Texas Miller Boosts Regional Grains

Texas Miller Boosts Regional Grains James Brown is a unique kind of businessman. He sells grains by the berry and as milled flour, but most of all, he promotes regional grains. He even encourages customers outside his area to explore heirloom grains grown locally and the millers who turn them into flour.  “I strongly believe that if you have a regional grain economy, you should support it,” says Brown. “If we’re selling something they don’t have, we’re happy to help, but we want you to support them too.” It’s all part of a love story that began when he decided to bake some bread. He loved it. His wife loved it, too, and his life was transformed. A virtuoso classical musician, he sold his viola da gamba in mid-2016 and bought a flour mill. “I’d started reading about stone-milled flour, and I went down the rabbit hole,” says Brown. “I read about and talked to people who knew how to work with whole grains from their area and grinding them or using flour from artisan millers who used grains from the region.” Unable to find a ready source of old wheat varieties grown in Texas, he made his own. He started with a 1919 USDA report listing the wheat varieties grown in each state and their acreages. The Texas section became his shopping list. “I found a few farmers growing some yet in Texas, and one was being grown in Saskatchewan,” says Brown. “For the others I couldn’t find, I turned to the USDA germplasm repository in Colorado. I received 100 grams of wheat berries for each, and we began to grow them out.” It took Brown and cooperating Texas farmers three years to produce a truckload of each variety, enough for some milling and reseeding. Today, Brown’s Barton Springs Mill (BSM) operates a 17,000-sq. ft. facility. He has long since moved on from his first flour mill. BSM uses two Osttiroler mills from Austria, with a combined capacity of 4,650 lbs. per 10-hr. day. The business produces and distributes products to home bakers across the continental U.S. Products include whole wheat and rye berries; organic stone-milled flour; and organic blue and yellow corn, available as kernels and milled into grits, cornmeal and polenta. BSM also markets legumes, rice, and flour from ancient grains—einkorn, spelt and emmer. Berries, kernels and milled products are available in 2 1/2 and 5-lb. bags for home bakers. Select grains and flour are also available in 47-lb. bags at wholesale prices. Commercial customers include a bakery within the BSM facility and Treaty Oak Distilling next door. BSM products are also available at many other bakeries, distilleries and breweries in Texas and beyond. Brown does everything he can to share and promote his passion for baking and regional grains through a website that educates, informs and inspires bakers and enthusiasts. Suggested uses are provided for each grain and flour.  The BSM website offers a wide range of content, including recipes, merchandise, books and more. Recipes are organized by end-product type and grain type. The Learn & Do section provides instructions for cooking and sprouting whole berries, working with sourdough, and various uses such as pizza, pasta, quick breads and breakfast dishes. The “Wheat Cheat Sheet” features information on the grains available from BSM, including their origin, taste, aroma and where they’re grown for BSM. The FAQ provides definitions and explanations of basic terms, from whole berry to falling number, a technical term used to assess grain quality. For those nearby, BSM offers tours and classes. These classes introduce students to making pastries, breads and other baked goods, from baguettes to tamales to fancy pastries. BSM has an extensive list of YouTube videos about the company, its mill, the farmers who grow its grain, which flour to choose, and much more. Brown credits much of the business’s growth to his farmer sources, quality-focused employees, and stone mills. However, the significant rise in home bakers’ interest in regional grains is truly driving the business. BSM is seeing 35% year-over-year sales growth. But that’s only surpassed by the growth in whole-grain sales, as more people discover the benefits of home milling. “Demand for whole wheat and rye berries has exploded,” he says. “We’re experiencing 55% growth in them year over year.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Barton Springs Mill, 16604 Fitzhugh Rd., Bldg. B, Dripping Springs, Texas 78620 (ph 512-855-7507; info@bartonspringsmill.com; www.bartonspringsmill.com).

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