Comments on: Is Looking to the Past the Future of Wheat? http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/ Professional Voices on Sustainable Food Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:25:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ValerieBurris21 http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-888 ValerieBurris21 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:42:19 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-888 I had got a dream to start my own firm, however I didn't earn enough of cash to do it. Thank God my close mate suggested to use the <a href="http://bestfinance-blog.com/topics/personal-loans" rel="nofollow">personal loans</a>. So I used the credit loan and realized my old dream. I had got a dream to start my own firm, however I didn’t earn enough of cash to do it. Thank God my close mate suggested to use the personal loans. So I used the credit loan and realized my old dream.

]]> By: Eli Rogosa http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-650 Eli Rogosa Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:58:15 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-650 Delicious heirloom wheats are staging a comeback! We welcome folks to visit: growseed.org and to tour the fields: Heritage Wheat Field Day July 7, 1:00 - 5:00 UMass Research Farm 8991 River Road off Rt 116, Deerfield, MA Discover almost-lost heritage wheats that thrive in New England organic soils. Learn how to integrate small grains in a diversified rotation. Share practical experiences to build a local wheat-to-bread system. Taste high nutrition einkorn bread that is safe for many gluten allergies. Contact Eli Rogosa to register: Ph: 413 624 0214 Email: growseed@yahoo.com See: growseed.org for more information. Delicious heirloom wheats are staging a comeback! We welcome folks to visit: growseed.org and to tour the fields:

Heritage Wheat Field Day
July 7, 1:00 – 5:00
UMass Research Farm
8991 River Road off Rt 116, Deerfield, MA

Discover almost-lost heritage wheats that thrive in New England organic soils. Learn how to integrate small grains in a diversified rotation. Share practical experiences to build a local wheat-to-bread system. Taste high nutrition einkorn bread that is safe for many gluten allergies.

Contact Eli Rogosa to register:
Ph: 413 624 0214
Email: growseed@yahoo.com
See: growseed.org for more information.

]]> By: Chichi http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-200 Chichi Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:49:05 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-200 Is there a simple way to explain why these heirloom varieties of wheat can't be utilized by the home baker? If Kenji's argument here is that heirloom wheat is too esoteric to be picked up by consumers, why is that? If Jim Lahey can teach people how to bake amazing loafs in their dutch ovens, then surely the consumer can be educated about how to work with lesser-known types of wheat flour.... Is there a simple way to explain why these heirloom varieties of wheat can’t be utilized by the home baker? If Kenji’s argument here is that heirloom wheat is too esoteric to be picked up by consumers, why is that? If Jim Lahey can teach people how to bake amazing loafs in their dutch ovens, then surely the consumer can be educated about how to work with lesser-known types of wheat flour….

]]> By: Kit and Cathy Kelley White Frost Farm http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-161 Kit and Cathy Kelley White Frost Farm Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:01:59 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-161 Kenji Lopez-Alt Your comments and directness are thought provoking. Your statement, “The consumer still rules … it requires consumer support.” is an axiom. Education, a shared common thread, will hopefully change consumer habit to consumer consciousness via their desire to eat healthier food and through their palettes. Availability is a challenge to be addressed by those of us growing heritage grains. The future of heritage grain production/products, and the organic farmers’ role will be determined by the collective efforts/choices made by farmers, bakers, chefs and ultimately consumers. Kit Kelley Kenji Lopez-Alt
Your comments and directness are thought provoking. Your statement, “The consumer still rules … it requires consumer support.” is an axiom. Education, a shared common thread, will hopefully change consumer habit to consumer consciousness via their desire to eat healthier food and through their palettes. Availability is a challenge to be addressed by those of us growing heritage grains. The future of heritage grain production/products, and the organic farmers’ role will be determined by the collective efforts/choices made by farmers, bakers, chefs and ultimately consumers.

Kit Kelley

]]> By: Kenji Lopez-Alt http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-153 Kenji Lopez-Alt Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:00:19 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-153 @Kit and Kathy I apologize for my admittedly harsh assessment of monday's meeting, and I humbly retract the statement I made about it being boring - you are right, that should have been an opinion kept to myself, and had no place in a public review. I also appreciate the thoughtful and informative rebuttal, and am happy that the event has helped farmers make links with bakers to help move their wheat. I think if you read closely at what I was saying, I was <em>not</em> saying that growing, baking, or thinking about heirloom wheats is unimportant, or an unworthy cause, as you and June seems to think I was saying. I was, on the other hand, making what I believe to be a very true statement: wheat and grains are inherently less exciting than fruit and vegetables, and the differences between heirloom wheats and commercially produced wheats (provided they meat the protein, falling number, and vomitoxin standards that you pointed out), are less pronounced than the difference between most heirloom vegetables, and their commercially produced counterparts. On top of that, as a product, heirloom wheats are harder to work with, and as such, they will be difficult, if not impossible, to ever get into a consumer market, or even a large scale commercial market - they will only ever be a plaything of niche bakers and bakeries (and thank god for them). I may have been misinterpreting Lahey's comments (I don't think I was), but I certainly wasn't mis-tasting his bread, which was far better than any of the previous three that were presented at the event. Was it because of the Warthog flour he used? No, it was because he's a better baker, my point being that even though bakers are buying heirloom flours, it is for reasons that are not entirely (or even partiall, I might argue), flavor-based. It is because for now, there are enough customers who care about things like diversity, regional economies, or just plain feel earthy-crunchy, or that eating heirloom wheats is healthier. It's a fad, and like all fads, is subject to the whims of the general population. The challenge for the champions of heritage wheats will be finding ways to make sure their products can stay viable in the market after these fads have come and gone. @Kit and Kathy

I apologize for my admittedly harsh assessment of monday’s meeting, and I humbly retract the statement I made about it being boring – you are right, that should have been an opinion kept to myself, and had no place in a public review.

I also appreciate the thoughtful and informative rebuttal, and am happy that the event has helped farmers make links with bakers to help move their wheat.

I think if you read closely at what I was saying, I was not saying that growing, baking, or thinking about heirloom wheats is unimportant, or an unworthy cause, as you and June seems to think I was saying.

I was, on the other hand, making what I believe to be a very true statement: wheat and grains are inherently less exciting than fruit and vegetables, and the differences between heirloom wheats and commercially produced wheats (provided they meat the protein, falling number, and vomitoxin standards that you pointed out), are less pronounced than the difference between most heirloom vegetables, and their commercially produced counterparts.

On top of that, as a product, heirloom wheats are harder to work with, and as such, they will be difficult, if not impossible, to ever get into a consumer market, or even a large scale commercial market – they will only ever be a plaything of niche bakers and bakeries (and thank god for them).

I may have been misinterpreting Lahey’s comments (I don’t think I was), but I certainly wasn’t mis-tasting his bread, which was far better than any of the previous three that were presented at the event. Was it because of the Warthog flour he used? No, it was because he’s a better baker, my point being that even though bakers are buying heirloom flours, it is for reasons that are not entirely (or even partiall, I might argue), flavor-based.

It is because for now, there are enough customers who care about things like diversity, regional economies, or just plain feel earthy-crunchy, or that eating heirloom wheats is healthier. It’s a fad, and like all fads, is subject to the whims of the general population. The challenge for the champions of heritage wheats will be finding ways to make sure their products can stay viable in the market after these fads have come and gone.

]]> By: Kit and Cathy Kelley White Frost Farm http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-152 Kit and Cathy Kelley White Frost Farm Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:16:46 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-152 My wife and I were invited to attend Monday’s event at the French Culinary Institute, and while we had other events scheduled, we both had the event on our minds all day. I came upon this “Is Looking to the Past the Future of Wheat?” totally by accident. The “…most boring event I’ve ever been too. Four hours talking about the subtleties of growing wheat!” These are comments that would have been better spoken to a group of close friends, and with a great deal more objectivity publicly and less condescending. The farmers will never take the place of chefs. Small farmers are individuals who are engaged in the craft of raising quality food. The chefs and bakers are the artists who work the magic: Forge the gold from the ore. Chefs/bakers desire quality ingredients, hands down. If I deliver poor quality lettuce, eggs, or grain to one of our clients, we loose a custom. Respect and a trusting relationship between the chef and the individual(s) growing the product –the farmer, are desired by both parties. It’s a demanding partnership, and it must be for both businesses to succeed. It was positive relationships that Monday’s event sought to inspire. My wife and I own and farm White Frost Farm, a 39 acre, organically managed farm in central PA. The Warthog wheat at Monday’s tasting event came from a one and a half acre trial we grew in partnership with the Northeast Organic Wheat Project. The field was planted with Medium Red Clover as a cover crop, The pH and soil chemistry were tested (only lime was needed), the soil was worked with small, lightweight equipment to minimize soil compaction, no chemical fertilizers or herbicides were applied to the crop/soils, and a quality non-treated seed was planted. The wheat was harvested with a small combine, cleaned and stored in a vault like room. Grain samples were sent to the National Quality Inspections lab and tested for Proteins, Falling Number, and Vomitoxin, the same categories tested by the big multinational. All of these numbers affect the performance of the flour, the finished product and the health of the persons consuming the grain. The smaller yields give a more precise representative sample of the grain being purchased. A bag of wheat is so much more than a bag of wheat. Flavor is the charge of the small organic farms growing heritage, ancient, or modern varieties of grain. The suggestion high yields and growing organic wheat is “a matter of production” is presumptuous on behalf of the author and simply false. If yield was the goal, the common modern ConAgra varieties harrowed by the author would be good enough. We have had several calls for Warthog this week, a result from the Monday event, as well as a mill from PA asking if we had moved our Warthog. Maybe the larger baking establishments aren’t the model for the smaller grower, but the quality, the freshness and its unique wholegrain flavor of our local grain is undeniable and desirable. The local bakers, clients, friends/vendors at our farmers’ markets and buying clubs buy our wheat berries/flour for its local origin, its fresh flavor and they come back with their friends. Thank you June Russell’s for you enlightening comments. My wife and I were invited to attend Monday’s event at the French Culinary Institute, and while we had other events scheduled, we both had the event on our minds all day. I came upon this “Is Looking to the Past the Future of Wheat?” totally by accident. The “…most boring event I’ve ever been too. Four hours talking about the subtleties of growing wheat!” These are comments that would have been better spoken to a group of close friends, and with a great deal more objectivity publicly and less condescending.
The farmers will never take the place of chefs. Small farmers are individuals who are engaged in the craft of raising quality food. The chefs and bakers are the artists who work the magic: Forge the gold from the ore.
Chefs/bakers desire quality ingredients, hands down. If I deliver poor quality lettuce, eggs, or grain to one of our clients, we loose a custom. Respect and a trusting relationship between the chef and the individual(s) growing the product –the farmer, are desired by both parties. It’s a demanding partnership, and it must be for both businesses to succeed. It was positive relationships that Monday’s event sought to inspire.
My wife and I own and farm White Frost Farm, a 39 acre, organically managed farm in central PA. The Warthog wheat at Monday’s tasting event came from a one and a half acre trial we grew in partnership with the Northeast Organic Wheat Project. The field was planted with Medium Red Clover as a cover crop, The pH and soil chemistry were tested (only lime was needed), the soil was worked with small, lightweight equipment to minimize soil compaction, no chemical fertilizers or herbicides were applied to the crop/soils, and a quality non-treated seed was planted. The wheat was harvested with a small combine, cleaned and stored in a vault like room. Grain samples were sent to the National Quality Inspections lab and tested for Proteins, Falling Number, and Vomitoxin, the same categories tested by the big multinational. All of these numbers affect the performance of the flour, the finished product and the health of the persons consuming the grain. The smaller yields give a more precise representative sample of the grain being purchased. A bag of wheat is so much more than a bag of wheat.
Flavor is the charge of the small organic farms growing heritage, ancient, or modern varieties of grain. The suggestion high yields and growing organic wheat is “a matter of production” is presumptuous on behalf of the author and simply false. If yield was the goal, the common modern ConAgra varieties harrowed by the author would be good enough.
We have had several calls for Warthog this week, a result from the Monday event, as well as a mill from PA asking if we had moved our Warthog. Maybe the larger baking establishments aren’t the model for the smaller grower, but the quality, the freshness and its unique wholegrain flavor of our local grain is undeniable and desirable. The local bakers, clients, friends/vendors at our farmers’ markets and buying clubs buy our wheat berries/flour for its local origin, its fresh flavor and they come back with their friends.
Thank you June Russell’s for you enlightening comments.

]]> By: June Russell http://www.goodeater.org/2010/01/13/is-looking-to-the-past-the-future-of-wheat/comment-page-1/#comment-149 June Russell Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:20:36 +0000 http://www.goodeater.org/?p=941#comment-149 It is unfortunate that Mr. Lopez-Alt’s review of our local grain tasting event last Monday was so uninformed. The purpose of this invite-only event was to facilitate a direct dialogue between farmers and bakers, and get feedback on several wheat varieties and grains being trialed in the region. The room was full of heavy hitters from several fields, including some of the most knowledgeable grain growers in the region, researchers from Cornell, seed savers, millers, NYC bakers from Sullivan Street, City Bakery, Balthazar, Hot Bread Kitchen, Blue Hill, CIA and FCI, representatives from Anson Mills, Stone Buhr Flour Company, Tuthilltown Distillery, along with attendees from Buffalo, Rochester, Long Island, and Lancaster Co. PA. It was a rare opportunity that brought a unique group together to have a serious discussion and wrestle with the questions, issues and barriers of developing a viable regional grain economy. It’s clear that Mr. Lopez-Alt did not understand the complexities of what was being discussed (or tasted), and did not bother do his homework either before or after the event. A fact that became painfully clear after he expressed titillation upon hearing Jim Lahey’s comment about being able to make good bread out of anything. This comment was actually more a challenge to his competitors in the room to use the grains from the region regardless of certain quality factors being discussed, and not a plug for the virtues of grain purchased from ConAgra. (In fact, Jim just contacted me looking for a source for that Warthog flour.) These conversations may seem boring to an outsider, but within the community, they are essential, and to those who attended, interesting. The work on the ground and the details about where food comes from and how it is grown and produced is largely un-glamorous and dry, but the job of a good journalist, especially one who purports to support “…local farms and re-diversifying our local food system,” is to translate the facts accurately for his readers, and not expect farmers to fawn for his attention like many of the self aggrandizing “rock stars” Lopez-Alt is so fond of. These discussions along with the grains that were tasted on Monday, not to mention those coveted heirloom tomatoes, all exist beyond the commodities market, meaning they will never be found in an average supermarket. Yet at Greenmarkets around the city, local grains are thriving, as Farmer Ground Flour, Wild Hive Bakery, Bread Alone, Bobolink, Hawthorne Valley and others are bringing local grains with exceptional flavor to the discerning consumer. A fact Mr. Lopez-Alt evidently could not be bothered to discover. June Russell Greenmarket It is unfortunate that Mr. Lopez-Alt’s review of our local grain tasting event last Monday was so uninformed.

The purpose of this invite-only event was to facilitate a direct dialogue between farmers and bakers, and get feedback on several wheat varieties and grains being trialed in the region. The room was full of heavy hitters from several fields, including some of the most knowledgeable grain growers in the region, researchers from Cornell, seed savers, millers, NYC bakers from Sullivan Street, City Bakery, Balthazar, Hot Bread Kitchen, Blue Hill, CIA and FCI, representatives from Anson Mills, Stone Buhr Flour Company, Tuthilltown Distillery, along with attendees from Buffalo, Rochester, Long Island, and Lancaster Co. PA. It was a rare opportunity that brought a unique group together to have a serious discussion and wrestle with the questions, issues and barriers of developing a viable regional grain economy.

It’s clear that Mr. Lopez-Alt did not understand the complexities of what was being discussed (or tasted), and did not bother do his homework either before or after the event. A fact that became painfully clear after he expressed titillation upon hearing Jim Lahey’s comment about being able to make good bread out of anything. This comment was actually more a challenge to his competitors in the room to use the grains from the region regardless of certain quality factors being discussed, and not a plug for the virtues of grain purchased from ConAgra. (In fact, Jim just contacted me looking for a source for that Warthog flour.)

These conversations may seem boring to an outsider, but within the community, they are essential, and to those who attended, interesting. The work on the ground and the details about where food comes from and how it is grown and produced is largely un-glamorous and dry, but the job of a good journalist, especially one who purports to support “…local farms and re-diversifying our local food system,” is to translate the facts accurately for his readers, and not expect farmers to fawn for his attention like many of the self aggrandizing “rock stars” Lopez-Alt is so fond of.

These discussions along with the grains that were tasted on Monday, not to mention those coveted heirloom tomatoes, all exist beyond the commodities market, meaning they will never be found in an average supermarket. Yet at Greenmarkets around the city, local grains are thriving, as Farmer Ground Flour, Wild Hive Bakery, Bread Alone, Bobolink, Hawthorne Valley and others are bringing local grains with exceptional flavor to the discerning consumer. A fact Mr. Lopez-Alt evidently could not be bothered to discover.

June Russell
Greenmarket

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