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Bob's Red Mill
Donna, my wife, and I decided to visit Portland Oregon for a few days, to see some of the local bakeries in the area and do a little shopping. We also wanted to take the tour that Bob's Red Mill offered while we were there. I decided to email them to find out if reservations were needed, or if it was OK to take photos during the tour. I did mention my website and I think that helped, because I received an email back from Cassidy, who is a marketing and social media specialist for Bob's Red Mill. Cassidy told me about an in depth, behind-the-scenes tour being offered to about 16 foodies which would be led by Bob himself. She wanted to know if we would be interested in joining that tour. This special tour was to be held on August 24th, but we had planned to head back to Vancouver on the 23rd, the day before the tour. Well … I was on the phone, changing the hotel reservations to stay the extra night. How could I miss an opportunity to meet Bob and get a behind-the-scenes tour of one of the fastest growing Flour and Gluten free mills in North America?
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When we entered the factory we were greeted by Cassidy and taken to a large room where Bob Moore himself, and Christie one of the tour guides helping Bob, were playing the piano … at 83 years of age, he looked and played amazingly and I found my foot starting to tap to the beat. Bob was wearing hissignature red vest and he looked just like his photo on the packaging of his products. It was also a good time to mingle with the other foodie/bloggers that were there too. Before the tour started we watched an informative video about the mill and how it came to be.
We headed to Bob's office, that was filled with photos, books and nic-nacs. I also found it interesting as we walked down the hallway from office tooffice, everywhere you looked were bags of Bob's Red Mill grains, flours and gluten free products, sitting on desks and shelves. This just goes toshow how much pride they have in their products.
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Bob then took us into the factory and showed us the foundation of what they do, and that is turning grain into flour. But as you will see it takes a lot to do that. The factory is huge, about 320,000 sq. feet on 17 acres and has about 268 employees all together and is profitable and has no debt. How many companies these days can say that, these days?
Bob even has a small museum where he houses old milling equipment. You can also get a close up view of the grinding stone that is used. The stones come from a quarry at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, just east of Paris and has been mining stones for over 100 years. In over 40 years none of the stones have never wore out in the factory.
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The reason that Bob's Red Mills factory prefers stone grinding over the large commercial steel rollers is that temperature of the flour after it is ground. The commercial grinders produce a lot of heat and causes the flour to lose nutrients and spoil quicker. Stone grinding has a low temperature and also has a better flavor, because the bran and germ is not removed.
Bob's Red Mill has become very well known for it's gluten-free products over the years. They takes it very seriously here to make sure there is no cross contamination.
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You could almost say there are two factories in one. One for gluten free and one for the gluten products. There are separate lines, staff, and labs for all of the gluten-free work. The staff never cross between the gluten-free and the gluten production areas. All the grains that arrive at the factory are quarantined in a special waiting area to insure quality and safety.
All the gluten free products are tested in the lab and must meet special requirements before packaging. When it comes to gluten free they can't be more then 20 ppm, but rarely have they had more then 5 ppm.
Bob is in the process to start a lab to test for genetically modified grains and corn. This will be the first time in North America that this kind of testing can be done. I'm sure this is going to become a heated topic in the industry over the next several years. I'm really not sure if you can find wheat grains or corn that are not genetically modified these days. All in all this will become very interesting, and I will keep everyone informed as more information comes out.
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The packaging area was fun to watch and see how everything is packed and labeled. It can almost be mesmerizing to stand and watch the products running down the conveyer belts, through the rollers and boxed or bagged.Then everything is stacked in a 170,000 sq.foot warehouse for shipping all over North America and around the world.
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At the end of the tour we all received a gift bag with some of the products that are made at the factory. So, I'm looking forward to playing with a few and make some bread. I highly recommend this tour as there is so many other thing to see and hear about. I'm sure you all have a great time.
Afterwards we headed to the Bob's red mill store, it's about a mile up the road from the factory. It's a beautiful red building with a working water wheel in the front. |
With about 15,000 sq. feet I'm sure you will find something to buy. It's huge with over 400 products, like 8 differect kinds of ground cornmeal, Fava bean flour, Hazelnut flour and Low fat soya flour just to name a few. In addition there are the Gluten free products and soup mixes to many different kinds of Granolas. You can buy bulk of almost any kinds of the products they carry. You will find Baking aids such as vegetable egg replacer, Guar Gum and Hemp protein powder amongst others. Really, you could spend several hours in that store just looking and reading all the wonderful products Bob's Red Mill has to offer. While you are there, make sure you check out the wonderful Bakery and in-door and out-door cafe where you can taste bread and soups made with Bob's products. Loved it!
I did buy several bags of grains to make a few recipes. One of them was Bob's 10 Grain Cereal and made this delicious 10 Grain bread. You can see more in our Blog or get the step by step recipe here. As time goes by I will be adding more and more recipes using Bob's Red Mill products.
Here is also a short video of a tour made by Bob's Red Mill that you may find interesting.
Embebbed vidoe from Youtube:
Bread Recipes you may like.
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