We’d like to thank everyone who replied (all 113 of you!) for helping us to improve this labour of love.

First, we are pleased announce that we will once again be working with the amazing Jim and Diane (plus the super-kids!) of Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz, B.C. Like last year, this year’s shares will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. 2009 members will be given priority for 2010, but we will also be expanding and opening up a number of new shares. We have already had many new sign-ups on our mailing list, but we encourage anyone who is interested to visit our About page and send us your information. We hope to be sending out the first share offers at the beginning of April, and will tell you more before that happens.

We look forward to passing on more information soon, so watch this space for news from Cedar Isle Farm, planning updates and more.

All the best from the team at Urban Grains!

Check out this tutorial from the super-bloggers at The Kitchn. They show you how to form a beautiful, tight loaf by hand, as well as sharing a few insights into the science of bread baking.

The longer answer, if you care to read more about what exactly you should be concerned about, is below…

A quick tour of the wheat grain

There are plenty of delicious ways to work your way through 20 kilos, but today I wanted to start with a discussion about storage and spoilage. Whole grain flour - which our members will be receiving - contains all parts of the wheat seed, including the germ and the outer layer of bran. Bran is a seed’s fibre-packed coating, and the germ is where each seed stores the nutrients it would use to grow into a seedling - it’s where you’ll find the niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin E, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, protein, fiber and fat. Whole grain flour, germ included, is much better for you than white or even whole-wheat flour, which have each undergone varying degrees of refinement. (In Canada, bizarrely, a flour can legally be called “whole-wheat” even if it has had up to 70% of the germ removed - which it usually has. For more check out this 2007 National Post article.)

Inclusion of the germ in a flour makes for a more nutritious food, but it also means a less stable product. The oils present in the germ mean that whole grain flour can go rancid if kept for too long under incorrect conditions.

Different people have different feelings about how long is too long to store whole-grain flour. We had one mailing list subscriber write in who grinds his own flour and won’t leave any around for longer than four hours after milling, while I tend to be a bit less anxious. I’ve kept whole grain flour in a cool cupboard for a few months without any noticeable issues. There’s a degree of personal opinion in all of this too: never eat food that you’re uncomfortable eating.

Local voices weigh in

John MacKenzie of Anita’s Organic mill, who will be milling our grain in the fall, had this to say when I asked him about racidity:

Anita’s has been selling whole grain flour for almost 20 years. In my four years at Anita’s we’ve never had any issues with rancidity. We tell customers to use within 6 months for freshest results, the product will last longer if store in a fridge or freezer - in the dark is best. We’ve done trials on 1 year old flour and it was still functioning beautifully. There will be a wide range of opinions on this topic but we stand behind our products. If anyone ever has an issue with the flour we sell we replace it or give them a credit.

Moreover, we actually have customers that prefer the flour to sit for 2 weeks prior to baking, there is a sweating process that flour goes through after being milled - some bakers prefer their flour after a sweating period.

For another professional opinion, I went to Chris Hergesheimer, newly brought on board to manage the project, who also mills local grain under the professional moniker The Flour Peddler. Here are Chris’s thoughts:

Whole grain flour, 20 kg’s of it is going to take even the most dedicated family baker (maybe using 3-4 kg’s per week) at least 6 weeks to finish. This is pushing the recommended shelf life of whole wheat. However, many bakers that I have talked to advocate ‘aging’ flour anywhere from 4 days to two to three weeks for best results. Ideally, you don’t want to have whole wheat flour hanging around for too long [...] I only mill in small batches (1-2 kgs) and tell people that ideally it should be gone or frozen within the week.

I am no expert, but I have been milling whole grain flour for 2.5 years with no complaints about the shelf life of the flour. On this note, 20 kg’s is a lot to have hanging around. You really want to advocate freezing the bulk of this, especially if you are only planning on making one loaf a week for half a year….

We trust these guys, but of course you should always be listening to your own instincts (and nose) first. If you smell something off in your flour bags, is probably best not to use them anymore. Take a nice big whiff now, while the bags are really fresh, so that you are comfortable assessing what “normal” smells like. Enjoy the flour!

If you haven’t yet seen it, check out the new Recipes page on our site, and submit your favorite to share.

In blog news: Keep your eyes peeled for two posts in the coming days. First, Chris took photos of the first pick-up excitement, which we’ll be sharing soon. We’ll also be posting some advice on how best to store your flour, as requested by many of you.

And if you’ve got any questions about using that flour… It’s great to see the recipes and cookbook suggestions flowing in through the comments, and to see all of the discussion happening. In order to give you easier access to these member submissions, I’ve created a “Recipes” page on the Urban Grains site. You can access it by clicking the “Recipes” link on the page header, or by clicking here. If you’d like to add a recipe or resource (which I encourage!) submit it as an email to urbangrains@gmail.com, and I will move it up to the main text area.

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The masked man bags again! Christiaan uses the large hopper to fill bags

Chris with winter wheat

The hopper, in all its glory

Totes of grain being lifted by the crane

Christiaan and Chris weighing out triticale bags

Christiaan using the sewing machine to seal the sack

Bags being loaded for transport

Boxes on the pallet, all ready to go

We’re getting very close to setting a delivery time so watch this space for an update from Chris announcing pick-up times and location. In the meantime, enjoy the photos! The new faces you’ll see below are Todd Wilson, who transported the bags, and Christiaan + family, visitors to the farm. Thanks to all of those who helped out with this stage.

Todd maneuvering bags

Loading up the truck

Todd and Christiaan pause the work for a photo

Jim loads using the tractor, as Christiaan and kids look on

A job well done!

The grain arrives, safe and sound, at Anita's.