SUBMITTED PHOTO Melbourne resident Jim Carmicheal holds a container to catch the freshly-milled flour he makes at his home. What started as a way to accommodate his wife’s diet has turned into a side business as Carmicheal sells his flour to whomever is interested within a 30-mile radius.

MELBOURNE — For thousands of years, mankind has been milling flour — the process of turning grain into a very common ingredient. Some of the earliest known mills date back to roughly 6,700 B.C. in the Middle East. Given the extent of time and technological advances, the milling process has evolved, moving from wheels of stone to grind the grain to a modern machine. And a Marshall County resident has joined the long list of millers throughout history.

Jim Carmicheal of Melbourne bought one of the modern machines, a Mockmill 100, after he caught the milling bug at the end of November.

“My wife has some dietary issues with the fructans in wheat so she’s on a low FODMAP [Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols] diet,” he said.

The freshly milled flour also provides necessary nutrients, as the bran, germs and oils are normally removed from the flour purchased in stores. According to Carmicheal, that is done because the flour will only last one week at room temperature if those elements are left in it.

“I saw a Marketplace ad for a mill attachment for a Kitchenaid which led me down the rabbit hole of milling my own grains in house,” he said.

Carmichael purchased the countertop mill and has been using it to make pasta, pizza dough, and bread from “gut-friendly” grains. He is also not limited to how fine or coarse the flour turns out to be. The countertop mill uses manmade ceramic stones that can grind 100 grams of four per minute. By varying the space between the grind stones, Carmichael can make a coarser flour for corn bread or porridge, for example.

“I use a lot of spelt in my own house,” he said.

Carmicheal does not have to travel far to get his grains as he sources them from Paul’s Grains in Laurel. He has figured out a great way to keep them, too — in glass gallon mason jars and food-safe five-gallon buckets with gamma lids.

“We grind directly into quart vacuum bags that we vacuum-seal to give it a bit more of a shelf life,” Carmicheal said. “Though using it immediately will yield the best results, you can freeze it for up to six months.”

Since flour begins to oxidize and lose nutrients as soon as it is milled, he tries to limit that by vacuum sealing the bags and freezing them if he’s not delivering right away after milling.

After becoming more familiar with milling, Carmicheal began selling his fresh flours, and customers are not limited to spelt. With prices ranging from $3 to $7 per pound, he has soft and hard white wheat, hard red wheat, barley, millet, oats, black or red quinoa, brown rice, rye buckwheat, dent corn and kamut or khorasan.

“I sell the flour by the pound,” Carmicheal said. “I charge $1 per pound to mill if someone wants to bring their own grains and I mill them.”

What he referred to as a hobby or necessity is not something he is trying to make a big profit off of. He’s really only selling the flour to cover the cost of the mill.

Besides the types of grains he sells, he can also mill amaranth, sorghum and triticale if people desire. Sprouted grains can also be milled if they are thoroughly dried. Carmicheal can also mill dried non-oily spices, tapioca, chia and flex seeds, lentils and pinto, red, kidney and garbanzo beans. He added the chia and flax seeds must be milled with another grain.

“I usually just mill in house and deliver to whoever,” Carmicheal said. “I’m willing to travel around 30 minutes from Melbourne.”

For now, his milling process is only set up for smaller quantities. However, if there is demand, Carmicheal said there could be an upgrade to a bigger, faster mill. That could fit into his hope to build the local baking community.

PURCHASE INFORMATION

Carmicheal sells his freshly milled flour at the weekly milk drops at the Melbourne Public Library, 603 Main St., every Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Otherwise, he said interested people can call him directly anytime. Plus, he is willing to deliver to Marshalltown.

Name: Jim Carmicheal

Phone: 641-751-5015

Email: guardian5110@gmail.com

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or l

bradstream@timesrepublican.com.