Regional grain hubs across the states owe a huge debt of gratitude to Monica Spiller. I mention her every single time I have a speaking engagement or interview, because I don’t believe she ever receives the recognition she deserves for her important work. Much has been written about the reintroduction of certain Landrace and Heirloom wheat varieties, especially Sonora. Sonora has become almost its own brand. It is most historically significant on the West Coast but is now grown in many states far to the east.
Monica Spiller is the founder of the nonprofit Whole Grain Connection. It’s now decades ago that she began to research and test landrace wheat varieties that could offer a path forward for regional wheat and flour production – a path outside of the commodity system that factored in drought tolerance, organic farming systems, acceptable yields and baking qualities for whole grain flour. In addition to Sonora, Grist & Toll customers are familiar with some of her other selections: Chiddam Blanc de Mars, Wit Wolkoring and Durum Iraq. If you have had the pleasure of baking with any of these special wheat varieties, no matter where you purchased the grain or flour, it is Monica who deserves the credit. We wouldn’t have this beauty or diversity without her.
India-Jammu has been at the top of my wish list for 12 years because it is a hard white wheat, which means it has a greater potential to yield higher quality protein and baking strength. Here is some background information provided by Monica:
“India-Jammu, is an Ancient white wheat that has been named for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in India, from which it came. A sample was collected for the USDA, from a landrace wheat field in Ganderbal, by Harry Vaughn Harlan, on June 17, 1923, at an elevation of 1,603 m (5,259 ft). This selection has been maintained in the USDA small grains collection since its original selection in 1923. It has been separately maintained in California under the Whole Grain Connection since the 1990s.
Ganderbal is in the breath-takingly beautiful mountainous Srinagar region of Jammu and Kashmir, in India.
Collection site coordinates: 34.2333, 74.7833.
USDA Accession number: PI 57906
All landrace wheat is Ancient, having been cultivated since at least 2000 BC.
The bran of India-Jammu wheat grain is light golden-straw colored; it is called white wheat because the bran is much lighter in color than the red-bran wheat varieties. Bread made with whole grain white wheat varieties has a much lighter colored crumb than whole grain red wheat breads. India-Jammu wheat has the elastic gluten that is especially appreciated by American bakers for making whole wheat breads.
Provided the growing conditions are favorable such as a spring planting after a legume crop, adequate rainfall or irrigation at planting time and good soil fertility, the yield can be high, and the protein value is generally greater than 12%.”
Because India-Jammu is a landrace wheat variety, it is public seed. Public seed means the farmers who take on the risk of growing out these older varieties can retain seed from each harvest to plant again, and can also sell seed to other growers. The vast majority of wheat seed is PVP, which means Plant Variety Protected. This basically means patented, giving the breeders up to 25 years of exclusive ownership, marketing and sales rights. Growers cannot produce or sell PVP seed without permission from the breeders or owners of the patent. Fighting for regional food systems also means fighting for seed sovereignty.
It is no joke that the process of seed to table is slow and expensive. I’m so happy for Monica that she gets to watch another of her selections enter the marketplace. I’m even happier for us, because we now get to bake with it. All the initial baking tests and lab results show that India-Jammu is indeed delivering on all fronts: beautiful baking strength, color and flavor.
Thank you, Monica! And thank you to the grower, John, who has taken a leap of faith with us, devoting time and precious resources to this still nascent local grain endeavor.
Follow this link to purchase some beautiful India-Jammu whole grain flour https://gristandtoll.com/product/india-jammu/