Since 1982, the Speerville Flour Mill has been supplying Atlantic Canada with whole grain flours and cereals. One of the founding principles of the mill was to provide a market for grain and other products produced by Maritime farmers.

Why?
Because less than 1% of this area’s available cereals and flour products are actually grown and processed in this region. It is critical to promote a regional food system, while encouraging organic farming, and a nutritious food supply. Speerville Flour Mill has always been a strong supporter of organic agriculture. From working with farmers with production issues, to marketing the results of their efforts, Speerville Flour Mill strives to produce top quality products, as well as, supporting the local economy by helping build strong rural communities.

Speerville Flour Mill has evolved from a small mill, producing basic flours & cereals to a bustling enterprise now producing a fresh and diverse range of whole grain products.

Whole Wheat Flour is not necessarily whole wheat flour. So much depends on how the wheat is processed into flour.

It’s all in the milling…
There are two milling processes in common use today modern commercial steel roller milling and stone ground milling. Steel roller mills, are a relatively modern invention and are designed to produce whit flour. Stone grinding is the traditional milling process and is used primarily in producing whole grain products. It retains the full nutrition of the whole grain, unlike modern commercial steel grinding which removes much of the grain’s fiber and goodness.

Steel ground flour is always without the most important part of the wheat kernel – the wheat germ.

Commercial White Flour is made almost entirely on steel roller mills. White flour is a 72% extraction of the wheat kernel. It is made by sifting out all the bran, shorts, middlings and wheat germ. Unless specified as unbleached, it is also usually bleached.

Commercial Whole Wheat Flour is steel ground white flour with part of the bran added back in. It never contains wheat germ. Unless specified as unbleached, it too is usually bleached.

Whole Grain Flours
Stone ground flours are a tasty and easy way to eat whole grains. Whole grains are only minimally processed by rolling, hulling, cracking or stone grinding. Whole grains are a necessary part of a nutritious diet. Once you become used to eating whole foods, the over processed substitutes begin to loose their appeal.

Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour is made simply by grinding up the wheat kernel!

Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour retains the full nutrition of the whole grain, unlike commercial steel grinding which removes much of the grain’s fiber and goodness. The stone ground process utilizes the entire kernel. The result is a high fiber (6g per serving) nutritious, delicious tasting whole grain flour. It still contains its bran (fibre) and all its germ (the life force). Unless the label states that it is STONE GROUND, it probably isn’t.

Stone Ground Whole White Flour is an exclusive product of the Speerville Flour Mill. This flour is sifted stone ground whole wheat flour with a lighter texture. It still contains most of the wheat germ, but with less bran. As with all Speerville Flour Mill products, there are no additives.

Simple process….Simply delicious!
In grinding, grain is poured through a hole into the center of the stone. Both the stone and the bedstone have groves that lead the grain onto the grinding surface. The pulverized grain emerges as flour from the master grooves.

Other Speerville Flour Mill Flours

Spelt Flour is truly a heritage wheat variety that can be enjoyed by anyone including many people who suffer from allergies or wheat intolerance. You can use spelt in any recipe you would use regular whole wheat flour and taste Spelt’s unique flavor. Just reduce the spelt by 1 tablespoon per cup of flour called for in your recipe.

Kamut Flour is an old variety of durum wheat. Many people sensitive to wheat can enjoy Kamut’s sweet nut like flavor & it’s beautiful golden color in your favorite baked goods. Kamut flour works very well for pasta.

Rye Flour is very popular in bread baking, and is usually used in combination with wheat flour because of its low gluten content. When Rye flour is used alone it will make a very dense moist product. Rye flour can be used to make traditional European cakes and pastries.

Buckwheat Flour is gluten free and traditionally used to make buckwheat pancakes or the Acadian plogues. Try substituting half Buckwheat flour for your flour in quick bread or cake recipes.

Rice Flour is gluten free and can be used to make gravies or sauces. In baking, substitute two tablespoons less per cup in place of regular flour.

Soy Flour is gluten free and high in protein. Use in any baking, replacing up to a ¼ cup of your regular flour. Reduce the baking temperature by 25 degrees, as products tend to brown more quickly.

Corn Meal is gluten free. Corn meal makes a good hearty breakfast porridge when cooked in double its volume of water. Corn meal makes the best corn bread or muffins. Also, try it as a coating mix for fish before frying.

Speerville Flour Mill is located in the Saint John River Valley near Woodstock, New Brunswick, in the community of Speerville.

Recipes

Whole Wheat Bread or Rolls
Bake bread at 350 degrees for 50 minutes
Bake rolls at 375 degrees for 25 minutes
Makes 3 loaves of bread or 24 large rolls

-Place in bowl: 1 Tbl. Baking yeast
3 c Warm water
1/4c Honey
-Add: 3 ½ to 4 cups of Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour
- Stir the sponge (from the outside inward), folding in air. Cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm place for about one hour.
-Fold In: 2 tsp. Salt
¼ c oil
3-4 c flour
-Knead for 10 minutes, using 1-2 cups of flour, until the dough is smooth & elastic.
-Place dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set in a warm place for
about one hour. (or until doubled in size)
-Punch down with your fist until air is worked out of the dough.
- Cut into loaves or rolls. Let sit for 5 minutes. Shape and place in baking dishes. Cover & let rise for 15 minutes.
- Bake

Breakfast Pancakes
-Place in bowl: 1 c Whole Wheat Flour or Spelt Flour
½ c Buckwheat Flour or Rye Flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 ½ - 2 c milk to desired consistency
-Stir together until lumps disappear
-Cook on hot greased griddle

Variation: to add extra nutrition add 2 Tbl. Soy flour and adjust liquid if necessary

Ask your local baker if they use Speerville Flour Mill Products.

Eating close to home!
In the early part of this century most food was consumed within a relatively short distance of where it was produced. Most people, even if they did not grow their own food, knew who, how and where their food was grown and processed.

Times have drastically changed! Now, the average distance between where a food is grown and consumed is over 1,500 miles. Over 90% of all food consumed in the Maritimes is imported. Thirty percent of all transport trucks on the road today are carrying food. Today’s agri-food system is in stark contrast to the Maritime communities of yesterday.

By supporting this type of food system, we are shipping our money away, polluting our environment and risking the security of what is left of our local food supply system.

As individuals, we need to start altering our own personal buying habits. We can help turn things around by growing our own food, buying organically grown food directly from a farmer whenever possible and by supporting local producers when shopping in a grocery store.

What is Organic?
Only farmers who produce food according to a set of standards, undergo evaluations and pass yearly inspections can label their products certified organic.

For food to be organic it must be grown in a high quality soil, with non-genetically altered seed and no exposure to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. The farmer must follow standards on the ethical treatment of animals and feeding procedures, with no use of hormones.

Certified organic farmers make a commitment to follow these standards which are beneficial to the health of the consumer, the environment and the economy of local communities.

History of Speerville Flour Mill

Located in downtown Speerville, not far from the small village of Debec, New Brunswick, Canada, sits the humble Speerville Flour Mill. For thirty years we have dedicated our hearts and minds to the creation of wonderful, healthful grain and food products. We hope you can find our products anywhere you live in the Maritime provinces. If you cannot, please give us a holler and we'll do our best to get them to you.

Here is a condensed version of Speerville Flour Mill's history.
We hope you enjoy it.

1982:
It was a bitter cold day in January, 1982, when Stu Fleischhaker and George
Berthault loaded up a half ton truck in Grand Falls, NB with high quality milling wheat bound for Speerville to grind the first load of flour at the Speerville Flour Mill. With a major winter storm coming, and despite mechanical truck problems, the flour was ground and delivered to Fredericton, and the two weary millers returned home 72 hours later to un-thaw their homes.

1983:
From the first Speerville Flour Mill newsletter: “EDB has turned some of our members into vegetables,” this is a comment regarding a chemical used to fumigate flour mills. EDB is still used today in commercial flour mills, but not in Speerville Mill.

1984:
After struggling for two years to market flour to the far reaches of the Maritimes, the fledgling flour mill gets its first distributor, Village Distributors in Moncton, now Dolphin-Village and still a major distributor of Speerville Flour Mill products to Atlantic Canada.

1985:
Two new cereals were developed: Saint John Valley Cereal and Cream of Wheat. Speerville Mill helped form the first organic farming group in the Maritimes, "SAVE" (Sustainable Agriculture for the Valley Ecosystem).

1986:
A whopping 7-organic products available from the mill - all Maritime grown!
David Cozac and Debbie Russell send a donation to enable the Speerville Flour Mill to set up grinding oatmeal. Debbie and David owned Aura Whole Foods in Fredericton at the time. Later, they sold Aura and started growing organic vegetables, and now operate True Food Organics .

1989:
Speerville hits the mainstream: Co-op Atlantic lists Saint John Valley Cereal and Tory Grits for the Co-op stores in Atlantic Canada. Speerville now sells 15 different products to Co-op Stores. The first full time job at Speerville Flour Mill was filled by local boy Todd Grant. Todd is still here today, now President of Speerville Flour Milling Co-op.

1993:
Speerville acquires a grain dryer which helps work with local grains.

1995:
Bread on parade! Speerville employees Todd Grant and Leland Daugherty build a gigantic loaf of bread with flour and water (paper mache) and “drive” the loaf in three local parades. The infamous bread loaf met its demise in a campfire at the local Oak Mountain barbecue later that summer.

1996:
A new seed cleaning plant built for improving quality of local organic grains, a much expanded organic line of products including a new product, Buckwheat Pancake Mix, was developed by local baker Nancy Cantafio.

1997:
A young upstart company Nabisco wants Speerville to stop using the name Cream of Wheat. Realizing the young upstart company probably has deeper pockets for young upstart lawyers, Speerville decides that Heart of the Wheat is a great name for a cereal.

1998:
First farm trials of heritage wheats with agroecologist Jenn Scott were held. These trials lead to the first commercial fields since the early 1950's of Acadia milling wheat.

1999:
Speerville receives the coveted Milton F. Gregg award by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. Little did people realize that Milton Gregg was instrumental in helping Speerville in the mid 1970's win a grant that helped the mill start grinding.

2000:
Speerville gets a new slogan, 'Pure Food....Naturally!', by holding a slogan contest. Speerville hosts a hot breakfast program in the local Debec Elementary School and feeds local organic pancakes and oatmeal to students. New products developed include Maritime Sunshine Pancake Mix and 12-grain Cereal. Big, new catalog format - 9 pages long.

2001:
Speerville Flour Mill makes national TV when Land and Sea spends two days “shooting” Speerville. Speerville refuses to sell out of Atlantic Canada despite being besieged with calls from across the country. Food should be produced and consumed locally!!! New baking mixes, under the heading, 'Mr. Hubbard's Cupboard', are introduced. Speerville Flour Mill debuts on Breakfast TV. The first Acorn Organic Industry Award goes to Stu for work with Speerville Flour Mill.

2002:
After the first farm trials of heritage wheats in 1998, Speerville finally has Acadia Whole Wheat Flour, and this one is grown right here in Speerville to rave reviews!! Speerville gets Organic Nut Butters, Organic Maple Syrup, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and Organic Teas, which are also produced right here in the Maritimes! Speerville has so many new products that we had to expand our warehouse that was originally built in 2001.

2003:
The time had come and by the end of the year Stu was getting ready to hang up his boots and Todd Grant had the challenging task of filling them by becoming Mr. Speerville Mill. Stu wouldn't be going far, as Nancy and he would be working on a new venture close to the mill. At that time Speerville had over 120 Organic Products.

2004:
After a full year with Todd at the reins, the mill hasn't missed a beat. Expanding to meet the ever growing market, we now have a full time sales representative who will be on the road to help educate customers on our exceptional products. If you are lucky he will share some of his knowledge on bread baking. He makes an exceptional loaf.

2005:
To meet the rising costs of shipping, packaging and grain, Speerville streamlines operations and production. Sales increase and for the first time ever, Speerville is able to source ALL of its bulk grains right here in the Maritimes! We are now able to offer heritage Red Fife Wheat, and we have over 130 total products!

2006-7:
Speerville Mill continues to provide loyal customers with quality products, service, and information; enabling them to make educated choices for themselves, their family, their health and their community! We now have over 140 products available.

2008:
The folks at Speerville Flour Mill have had a rather exciting time in 2008. We started the year with a new 60 ft X 40 ft warehouse expansion. This has provided the much needed room to handle our increasing growth. We have added some new products: Chia Seed, Navy Beans and Adzuki Beans. We also have enviro litter, a natural wheat product that absorbs both odours and liquids. We are in the process of introducing a new Organic Whole Wheat Pancake mix and an Organic Whole Wheat Pizza Dough mix. All in all it’s been quite a year.

2009:
The new products we added have started to become popular. We have learned that Chia seed is more versatile than we thought. Along with the fact that it is a human “Super food” it can be used as a replacement for fats and oils in baked goods. This makes a Speerville Oatmeal cookie a healthy meal in itself. The Whole Wheat Pancake mix is a wonderful addition with lots of favorable comments.
Speerville Flour Mill’s expansion plans are in full speed ahead with the purchase of a new oatmeal roller and a new stone ground mill. These should be up and running in 2010. Considering the past economic recession, Speerville came through in fairly good order, with strong support from the many loyal customers. The staff of the mill would like to express a most hearty “Thank You”.

We look forward to serving you in 2010.

If you'd like to know more, please EMAIL US !