Bob’s Red Mill

I have seen grain and other products from Bob’s Red Mill in several stores that we frequent.  My wife has purchased some of the cereal products to try, but I hadn’t given much thought to the company and what it may offer.  Based on a recommendation from a friend, we took a field trip to Bob’s Red Mill in Milwaukee Oregon to see what they were all about.

We drove to the visitors center and store and found that it is a very busy place.  So busy that we were a little concerned that we would not be able to find a place to park.  On entering, we found a delightful store with isles stacked high with all types of whole and milled grain products.  Bob’s Red Mill is a unique company because it has two independent manufacturing lines: one for regular grain products and the other is completely gluten free.  The actual mill is about a mile down the street from the visitors center, andt Bob’s Red Mill does offer guided mill tours weekdays at 10AM.

Our friend uses a gluten free diet and on the shelves of the store, I was surprised at the number of gluten free items that Bob’s makes available to support these diets.  Product range from a large selection of grain products to pancake mixes, brownie mix, cookie mix, biscuit, cake, cornbread, and even raisin bread mix.  Just because you don’t use flour doesn’t mean you have to forego some treats.

Bob’s sell products a variety of forms: bulk, 25-pound bags, and smaller bags depending on the type of product.  I was very surprised to see that they sell bulk spices by the ounce.  The offering of products range from the typical; flour and grains to the unexpected; Evaporated cane juice and Xanthan gum, a little something for everyone.

We picked up some organic thick rolled oats (some for us and some for our friends), some multi-grain chips, a bag of small tapioca pearls, and a bag of bean and grain soup mix.  I will have additional reports on some of these products in the future.

I checked out the Bob’s web site and they have over 1400 recipes online and available for down printing.  I quickly checked out the recipes for baked goods and Bob's Aebleskivers caught my eye.  We have and aebleskiver pan, but we have never made them.  Bob’s Red Mill posting the recipe may prompt us to get out the pan and try it out.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell