NZ BORN AND BREAD OVER SIX GENERATIONS
Why there’s more than a grain of truth to ‘local tastes better’
People have been baking bread for around 30,000 years. Didn’t matter whether they lived in Europe, the Middle East or Australia, the recipe was pretty much the same: grind some grain into a powder, add water and heat the mixture over a fire.
Over the centuries, most communities have come up with their favourite loaf - France’s baguette, Italy’s ciabatta, California’s sourdough, India’s naan. Tastes might have changed but like those earliest breads, each of these is made from two ingredients you can’t do without – respect for cultural tradition and the best of a region’s produce.
In New Zealand today, that heritage is nurtured by Ploughmans Bakery and its range of bread characterised by specialty grains and seeds, grown, milled and baked close to home.
Born and bred in New Zealand, Ploughmans believes in producing hearty, honest bread, using “only ingredients that make us smile when taking that first bite.”
As media personality Hayley Sproull found when she met some of the Kiwi farmers and bakers who put their passion into these loaves, there are good reasons why “local tastes better”. Six generations of the Worsfold family have worked the soil of the Canterbury Plains at Greendale; four generations have been involved in harvesting grain and sending it to the Christchurch flour mills to make bread since the early 1900s.
Syd, the fifth generation, has carried on the tradition for more than 40 years, growing up on a farm about 1km up the road from the 410ha property where he still works with wife Trish and, in recent years, two of their children. Son Earl took over running of the operation last year while daughter Catherine has bookkeeping and compliance responsibilities, as well as general farm duties
Their farm at Greendale, outside Darfield, on fertile soils where the Selwyn and Hawkins rivers meet, is perfectly situated to take maximum advantage of local soils and weather.
Rotating crops through the seasons, they predominantly grow wheat and barley, plus smaller amounts of canola, peas and linseed for the local market, and specialist seeds such as radish for export to Asia and Europe – as well as rye. Like other growers, Syd is proud of adding his local flavour into Ploughmans Harvest Rye.
The genial Syd is respected as one of this country’s champion cropping farmers, harvesting a variety of edible grains, seeds, pulses and grasses. He’s won more industry awards than you can shake an ear of wheat at.
Having started farming on his own account in 1978, Syd reckons he has a pretty good knowledge of what grows well in these (central) Canterbury soils and can say, with a grin, “Some of these new-fangled ideas they come up with today – some of them were actually learned a long time ago.”
Sure, today’s diet- and planet-conscious consumers might think crops like canola and fava beans are modern answers to contemporary questions, but Syd will tell you that he and his father were sending them to processors in Dunedin some 50 years ago.
For Syd, growing the ingredients that go into our food has always meant taking responsibility for what happens to his produce far beyond the farm gate – keeping a close eye on the food chain right through to the kitchen table.
Earl agrees with his father: “As growers we are always striving to get closer to our end-user and understand what they want and what we can grow for them.”
And while he’s handed over the reins to Earl, largely because of health issues, Syd still keeps a keen eye on what’s growing down on the farm. That’s where you’ll find him most days, with his heading dog, and he still gets onto the tractor to lend a hand “when I’m needed.”
The (vastly experienced) wheat grower is on hand to advise, debate and share his lifetime of knowledge. “Sometimes I take it on board, other times I choose to ignore it,” Earl says with that wry – or rye - Worsfold grin.
But Syd has to have the last word. “What’s your go-to sandwich?” asked Hayley. “Got to be the Ploughmans Harvest Rye,” he told her. With a taste of the Greendale rye crop, grown on the family farm. Local tastes better, after all.