Flour

More and more people are choosing to eat food grown locally. They rightly believe that doing so means the food is usually fresher, that it will help family farms to survive and it will reduce the number of large lorries on the road. Suffolk people are embracing the idea of eating local with enthusiasm. It is a bit of a surprise therefore that it is very difficult to buy the one thing grown on nearly every Suffolk farm - Suffolk flour made from Suffolk wheat. We grow over a quarter of a million acres of wheat in the county every year, yet most of it disappears down farm drives in big lorries, never to be heard of again.

It was not always so. In the days of higher transport costs, most grain was consumed locally. Nearly every village had a flour mill. The farmer knew the miller and the baker and their products took into account each others strengths and limitations.

At Maple Farm we want to sell as much of our produce locally as is possible, but all but a few of Suffolk's small mills are now in ruins. After a lengthy search we found a small family firm in Austria which still makes traditional stone mills. With one of these mills, we now produce our own flours - wholemeal wheat, unbleached white, rye as well as wheat bran - made from our own cereals grown organically at Maple Farm. Although not as strong as some imported flours, they make up for this in flavour. They make delicious pastry and bread.