Local Grains

New York is not part of the grain belt. Sure, you can grow grain here, but the weather is kind of a crap shoot. We don't have reliably hot dry summers for ripening the way they do in, say, Kansas. Wheat is readily available, but the range of local alternative grains is pretty limited. It doesn't help that most commercial wheat-free products are rice based: the closest place I know of where rice is commercially grown is Arkansas, and the closest place I know of where processed rice products are produced is California. Mostly it's grown overseas; it's not uncommon for rice to travel more than 10,000 miles to get to upstate New York. Rice is going to be one of our five exceptions, but even so, there's a huge delta in food miles to be had if we can reduce our dependence on it.

Most grain is purchased in processed form, so there are two parts to the "local" equation for grains: where the grain is actually grown, and where it's converted into a convenience food (bread, crackers, cereal, pasta, cookies, cakes, etc.) If we ate wheat, we could satisfy the locavore challenge through local bakeries: we can readily find locally produced wheat bread, crackers, cookies, and cakes. We can also find a variety of local wheat flours, but chances are none of the local wheat-based convenience foods are made from local wheat.

So, we have a choice about where to focus our efforts: supporting local bakeries (which Greg can do, since he does eat wheat,) or supporting local alternative grain farmers (which Sophia and I are going to attempt.) We do eat other gluten grains (oats, rye, barley), which is a big help. I think a realistic goal for the two of us - given the challenge of replacing a lot of ready-made products with home-made ones, and my limited knowledge of rice-free recipes - is to use 2/3 to 3/4 local grains for the month (with rice and rice products for the rest.)

The Known Options

So, here's what we already know we have available:

Local processed products:

Greenstar/Oasis gluten free bread (available on Thursdays. Main problem: contains milk, which we avoid for the same reasons we avoid wheat.)

macaroons (cookie substitute.)

granola (variety of products available; all much sweeter than what we normally eat for breakfast.)

Local whole grains:

buckwheat, corn, live oats (has some hull fragments)

Local flours:

buckwheat, rye, corn (flour, grits, polenta)

What can I make with that?

I can make corn bread and tortillas with 100% corn, and flapjacks with 100% buckwheat. We eat grits, and I know how to convert tortillas into corn chips. I have made rye bread with 100% rye, though I haven't yet managed to get a consistent result.

I have the equipment to roll and grind oats, though the hull fragments make the process more labor-intensive than I would like. I might be able to figure out sprouted oat bread; it's possible that the hull fragments would just slough off if I sprouted the oats before baking with them. I've done something analogous with rice and lentils (soaking the grains, then wet grinding them in a blender.) (see updates: Progress Report I and Clean Oats!)

If I can work out a good local flour mix, I can make a variety of quickbreads. This will be experimental at first, but quickbreads are pretty forgiving. And if I add rice to the list of options, I know how to make crackers and sourdough bread; both contain a mix of rice and local grains.

This is starting to feel almost doable. I think it's time to do a shopping run.