Working with the grain
09.02.2008 21:00
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- Source: JS Online
Cochrane - Glenn Robeck doesn't mind working nose to the grindstone. While most flour mills today are high-tech commercial giants with lightning-fast steel rollers that churn out flour for the masses, Robeck earns his living at rustic Great River Organic Milling. Here, centuries-old, slow-turning granite millstones grind organic grains into flours for a niche market of artisan bread bakers and health-conscious consumers. "At the end of the day, it's more than just a paycheck," said Robeck, the mill's long-time production manager. "You have to earn your livelihood, but it's nice to feel you're also doing something that leaves the world a little better place." The small mill, tucked in a quiet valley 6 miles east of the Mississippi River, is one of just a handful of granite stone millers left in America. It's a beacon to the past, before Wisconsin was America's Dairyland and when wheat was the state's big crop. Great River Organic Milling has a growing following among those looking for healthful alternatives to processed foods - in this case, flour milled with the whole grain left intact, which commands roughly three times the price of refined flour. When the process for refining flour was invented in the 1870s, it was considered a major breakthrough, giving the baking staple a longer shelf life, and grains more diversified uses. But refining also snatched valuable nutrients. Whole-grain flour, by contrast, is everything nature intended. "This is 100 percent whole grain," Great River Organic Milling owner Rick Halverson shouted above the steady hum of machinery that moves raw grain through the mill in a loop. "All the natural, nutritional components of the grain go in the bag." The downside is a shorter shelf life, as the germ of the grain is left intact. The germ contributes much of the grain's protein, folic acid and other B vitamins, carotenes and other antioxidants, plus omega-3 fatty acids. But the omega-3 fatty acids also cause rancidity. So Great River only makes its flours to order, unlike industrial millers that ship product cross-country to vast networks of supermarkets and commercial bakeries. Sweet smell of successA pleasant, nutty aroma wafts through the mill that was cobbled together in a red pole farm shed in the 1970s. Robeck said he finds satisfaction in watching demand for organics grow, including organic grains and flours. "Every acre farmed organically is 1 less acre farmed with chemicals," he said. The refined flour industry took a hit several years ago when the low-carb Atkins diet sent bread sales plummeting. But the diet caused barely a ripple at this mill, as its customers consistently follow natural, whole-food diets, which include whole grains, Halverson said. "Now, with the slow food and locally grown foods movements, we're getting more and more calls from people asking, 'Where do you get your grain?' " Halverson said. The company knows all its suppliers, he added. Each bag of raw grain is labeled with the farmer's initials. Quality is crucial to customers such as bread baker Cameron Ramsey, owner of Madison Sourdough. He has been buying flour from the mill for 15 years. "(Great River) is very unique, and when they go, who's left?" Ramsey said. "They're a vanishing breed, man." Great River began processing organic grain from nearby farms in the mid-1970s, long before organic was cool. The stone mill tradition harkens back to an era in Wisconsin from roughly 1850 to 1880, when the state grew one-sixth of the nation's wheat. Back then, flour mills were small-town fixtures, noted Margaret Bogue, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor. "Wheat was a crop that moved west with the population from the East," she said. Milwaukee was the largest flour milling city west of the Appalachian Mountains until it was displaced by St. Louis in 1871. Wheat growing in Wisconsin tapered off markedly in the 1880s, Bogue said. The constant replanting of wheat fields had depleted the soil of nitrogen, and blight set in, forcing a wholesale shift. By the turn of the 20th century, most Wisconsin farmers raised dairy cows. Cheese factories began replacing flour mills, Bogue said. Along with flours, Great River Organic Milling makes three hot cereals: Multi-Grain with seven grains; a Breakfast Cereal blend of wheat and rice; and Highland Medley, a three-grain blend similar to Irish oatmeal. Great River also makes four types of pancake mix. The original mill here, Little Bear Trading Co., went bankrupt in 1992. Office manager Nadine Bayer, Robeck and another mill employee bought the building and equipment from the bank to revive the mill under a new name, Great River Organic Milling. They sold to Halverson four years ago because they recognized the company needed to grow, Bayer said. Halverson, who had extensive sales experience with food ingredients, bought the mill on one condition: that Bayer and Robeck stay on to help run it. Since then, sales have grown from $274,000 to just over $600,000, Halverson said. Great River Organic Milling's main business is bulk flour for artisan bakers, including bakers in Chicago, Madison and the Twin Cities. The mill also handles high-protein, gluten-free grain called brown teff, which is grown in Ethiopia. Retail is the fastest-growing segment. Great River began with about 40 regional food co-op customers. Now the mill has 400 to 500 retail customers, including Outpost Natural Food Stores and Sendik's in the Milwaukee area, and some Sentry stores. Sales also extend to Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky. But the mill's most famous customer traveled a much greater distance. Will Steger took the mill's wheat and rice breakfast cereal to the North Pole in 1986 during his famous dogsled expedition.
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