One of the greatest aspects of eating locally has been making connections with others who are doing the same thing. I've been able to learn a lot from so many people, and have had the opportunity to pass on some of my connections as well. My brain has been completely fried lately, but I wanted to share a recent discovery that was shared with me through the local grapevine. It's not earthshattering, per se, but useful nonetheless.
I've been using Southern Biscuit All Purpose Flour since we started eating a local diet. I didn't have a lot of information about it, but I did know that it's processed by Midstate Mills, located in Newton, NC, about 300 miles away. Not necessarily local, but a heck of a lot closer than say, Montana.
I had been wondering about where they got their wheat, but always seemed to think to call them when they were closed. This week Trace clued me into the blog of another NC local eater, "Stew", who has apparently mastered the use of a wonderful technology called "email" that she utilized to contact Midstate Mills and get the lowdown on their wheat. This is her response from Midstate - you can link to the One Local Summer entry where she posted it (The South, Week 6 Take 2) on the sidebar to the right.
Most of this wheat comes from North Carolina and South Carolina. Since there is not enough wheat grown in Catawba County to last us a month we also need to get wheat from eastern North Carolina around Greenville, Wilson, Plymouth and Washington...Sometimes we buy soft red wheat from Ohio and Indiana but because freight costs get so high, that is limited.
Contrary to what I was told by several folks around here, wheat can be grown in NC, and if I had just done a little investigation, I would have found out how much. According to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, about 25,000 bushels of wheat were harvested in 2006. Not too shabby.
Stew also found out that the Old Mill of Guilford, located in...Guilford, uses all local corn in their cornmeal and polenta. So thanks to Stew and her handy technology, I can rest easier knowing I've got options for flour, cornmeal and polenta. That opens up a world of recipes for me and makes the Autumn months look that much more promising.
3 comments:
Heh. I'm a girl. :-) Easy mistake to make. Another fun bit of info I got from the guy at Midstate was that Bojangles uses their flour for the biscuits. So if you MUST have junk food, well...get a Cheerwine to go with it.
Oh, oh, oh, and something else: the wheat Midstate uses mostly comes from Eastern NC, so other than the shipping it from your area out west and back, it's even better. Well, actually that doesn't sound so good. I guess I meant that it's supporting the East's farmers. Obviously someone needs some coffee here.
Ah, the mysterious Stew! Thanks again for the info - I've corrected my entry to give our gender its due credit. :) Rock on, girl!
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