A display of Bob's Red Mill products at Whole Foods, Walnut Creek
Bob’s Red Mill made news a few months ago, when the 81-year old proprietor, Bob Moore, announced that he was turning over the company to his 209 employees who would become employee-owners. And that’s just one more reason to love the suburban Portland, Oregon company which sells the widest selection of organic, quality baking supplies and other whole grain foods in North America, more than 400 products in total. Their grains are grown largely by farmers in the U.S. and Canada with whom they contract and are ground on Danish-built stone grinding mills using quartz grindstones. The breadth of their product line is illustrated by their range of flours: almond, amaranth, black bean, buckwheat, coconut, corn (in a dozen different colors and grinds), and that’s just the first three letters of the alphabet!
For people concerned with gluten, they offer some 50 gluten-free products processed in a separate gluten-free building and regularly tested to be sure they contain no trace of gluten.
Another reason to love Bob’s Red Mill products is that they are widely distributed. Most Whole Foods Stores carry a selection, as do many supermarkets (the Raley’s store in Vallejo has a display of Bob’s Red Mill products in it’s natural foods department, for example). And you can buy on line from their website where you can also tour their facility and view moving television coverage of the hand over of the company to its employees.
I’ll be referring to their product frequently in the coming months when I blog about new baking recipes I’m working on… Stay tuned.
