The Fate of the Fife

The red fife, our hardy Ontario heritage wheat, certainly has its endearing qualities. It does have a great taste, a little nutty, a bit sweet. It's very heavy, but that's not necessarily a bad thing depending on the dish. And then of course there is its history and it's low inputs needed to grow (ideal for organic agriculture). But... it has also certainly been a challenge to work with, especially because we're lacking a few other baking essentials, like baking soda, that might otherwise compensate for its dense texture. So while we're not totally giving up on the fife, we have found a few alternative flours that are taking a more prominent role in our cooking.

Two farms, Grassroots Organics near Desboro On. and Merryland farms near Peterborough both provide some good alternatives. So far we've tried kamut and Spelt flour, both of which have been much easier to work with than the fife (although we both must admit that they don't quite have the same flavour) and an all-purpose flour which blends the two with the red fife. Grassroots Organics also has a pastry flour, which is from a local wheat, but lighter than the red fife. We've only used that one once so far in making pasta, blended with the all-purpose. It was certainly a lot easier than our pasta making experience with the red fife. And because it still tasted great, we think we'll be avoiding red fife pasta again.

But the fife still does have a place in our local kitchen. It's still good to mix with another flour for some added flavour without becoming too heavy or tough to work with, and we found out it makes for a great coating for breading (see 'Temptation Thwarted' post). Maybe after this experiment is over we'll still buy some on occasion. But for the bulk of our baking needs, it looks like Kamut, Spelt, mixd all-purpose, and newly found pastry flour will take over.