You can now taste the terroir… in flour!
Terroir – the French word winemakers use to refer to the natural environment and factors such as soil, climate and topography that influence their wine – is also cropping up in the world of flour production.
James and Vanessa Moffett have been farming organically for a quarter of a century on the farm Kirklington near Ficksburg in the Free State. They farm with a variety of crops for the local and European markets, and have learnt, often the hard way, that differences in soil, microclimate and location on one farm can make a big difference to the quality and baking properties of a single wheat variety. Farming practices therefore play an important role in the complexity and variations in flavour and properties of the wheat, flour and the bread you eventually bake.
As we wrote in Platteland #6 (Autumn 2015), the Moffetts teamed up with Stellenbosch master baker Fritz Schoon to supply freshly milled organic flour to his bakery and other specalist bakers. The next step was a partnership with the couple Bertie Coetzee and Alette de Beer, organic farmers from Lowerland near Prieska, who are now sowing their own “terroir-specific” grain varieties, including heirloom and new cultivars. They only work with single cultivars with a high protein content (that have not been genetically modified), and their harvest is stored with diatomite (E551: an inactive foodgrade powder that helps to repel pests). An authentic stone mill is used to mill the flour (no steel rollers are used), all the nutritional wheat germ and fibre are retained, and they don’t use additives.
Apart from their primary bread cultivar, a hardy winter wheat that James has named Highland Hard Red, Bertie and co are also experimenting with a softer spring-type wheat named Beukes Witwol, or White Sonoran (used for sweet pastries and cakes); the ancient grain Khorasan (good for pasta and pizza); and maize (good for coarse mieliepap and polenta, as well as corn crisps and tortillas by Santa Anna’s).
Furthermore, the first wheat and barley malt were recently produced at Kirklington, promising to lend unique flavours to South African micro-brewed beer. Just think: while knocking back a cold one on a hot day, you’ll be able
to say to yourself: “Yes, this is definitely Prieska in a glass!”
Contact James Moffett Farming james@moffett.co.za lowerland.co.za bertie@lowerland.co.za or alette@lowerland.co.za