Goskagit By AARON WEINBERG Photos Jake Tull

BURLINGTON — Washington State University Bread Lab Director Stephen Jones pointed to a photo in the facility’s main hallway Wednesday as guests streamed by for the grand opening.

“This is a photo of first lady Michelle Obama planting our wheat at the White House,” Jones said.

Milestones and accomplishments were highlighted during the event honoring the completion of the Bread Lab’s new 12,000-square-foot facility at the Port of Skagit.

The lab portion of … » More …

You can buy Vetri bread at Whole Foods starting next month The loaves, made with heirloom whole grains from Bucks County’s Castle Valley Mill, are a partnership with Drexel’s Bread Lab. BillyPenn: By Dana Henninger photo, Marc Vetri

Starting this summer, the baguette you pick up at Whole Foods could have a familiar name attached to it: Marc Vetri.

In partnership with the nascent Bread Lab at Drexel, a grain and baking research center that … » More …

Camas Country Mill and Food Resiliency in the Willamette Valley

ARTICLE | JANUARY 26, 2017 – 12:00AM | BY RACHAEL CARNES Eugene Weekly

Photo by Todd Cooper

To understand the future of the Willamette Valley as a food-producing region, it’s a good idea to look at its history. And to get a good look at its history, you have to go back about 50 million years.

Before the Pacific Northwest as we know it was formed, a series of volcanic islands known as the Siletzia Island Chain sprouted up, forming the backbone of what … » More …

LESLIE MACKIE Macrina Bakery

The flour most of us are familiar with—the inert, white powdery stuff from the supermarket with a long shelf life—is a very modern development in our long relationship with wheat, the most important food in history. Before industrial agriculture became dominant, milling was done at regional mills with diverse strains of wheat. The effort to create uniform flours that won’t spoil has taken much of the flavor and nutrition from our flour and the products made with it.

One of the national leaders in the effort to restore flavor and nutrition to available wheat … » More …

Modern Farmer By Kristan Lawson

Until very recently, small farms have tended to avoid planting wheat because it’s not very profitable per acre. Commercially, wheat is grown in such vast quantities that it’s usually sold not by the pound but by the ton. For centuries, society has considered wheat a faceless “commodity” like iron ore or cotton, every sack anonymous and interchangeable.

But that’s all about to change. Wheat is experiencing a renaissance as chefs, food writers, and savvy consumers discover that each kernel holds a universe of long-forgotten flavors, a terroir: Wheat from one area tastes different from the wheat in another, and … » More …

By ALLIE FERGUSON • NOV 19, 2016 KNKX 88.5 FM (Listen Here) 

Everyone’s got a favorite food. But how about a favorite crop?

Dr. Stephen Jones, director of Washington State University’s Bread Lab in Mt. Vernon, loves wheat. A lot.

“The sheer beauty of the crop in a field like this … you can almost hear the voices in it — the voices of the tradition, the voices of the people that came before us into this crop,” said … » More …

Sujata Gupta

Nestled among rolling hills and grazing cows, Elmore Mountain Bread in central Vermont is quintessentially pastoral. The setting is apropos, given the owners’ recent decision to start grinding their own flour by stone — a veritable step back in time.

Blair Marvin, who co-owns the bakery and mill with her husband, Andrew Heyn, says the motivation to build the mill came from a fellow baker in North Carolina, who sent them a surprise shipment of his own freshly milled flour about four years ago. Typically, flour has an almost dusty odor, but this flour smelled earthy, Marvin recalls. “We were like, … » More …

Lauren Marquardt | May 26, 2016 | From American Farmland Trust “Give it a name, give it a place, give it a soul, and give it a taste.”

According to Dr. Stephen Jones (pictured, right), wheat breeder and Director of The Bread Lab at Washington State University, that’s how you add value to wheat.

Around 60 people came out for American Farmland Trust Pacific Northwest’s most recent No Farms No Food Speaker Series to hear from Dr. Jones. … » More …

The Pacific Northwest is home (and crucible) to a dynamic and booming distilling scene, with Seattle arguably emerging as its capital. Like many of his distilling contemporaries, Master Distiller Matthew Hofmann started at a young age, when he was still a student at the University of Washington. But his palate had awoken long before that. Growing up and going out to eat with his parents, Hofmann noticed a difference in flavor from the same meal cooked at home—and it piqued his interest. … » More …

Katherine Martinko for Treehugger Photo: JenR Link to article on Treehugger

One food scientist is on a mission to save the world’s most important food and bring back the delicious, nutritious, wholesome wheats of the past that we’ve lost to industrial production.

It has become easy to source locally grown meat, vegetables, fruits and, to some extent, dairy. But when it comes to wheat, it is a much bigger challenge. Wheat production has evolved from local, regional growth along the coasts of the continent … » More …