Whole grain is a good dietary source of many valuable nutrients and fibre. The whole grain contains proteins, essential fatty acids, B-complex vitamins and vitamin E.

The outside layer of the grain, the husk, is abundant in fibrin (fibre) and minerals. Insoluble fibre passes through the body undigested, cleaning the digestive tract by sweeping harmful substances out of the body. This function may be a significant factor in preventing heart disease and cancer. The soluble fibre present in grains slows digestion and allows optimal absorption of nutrients, such as natural oils and carbohydrates. Soluble fibre in the digestive system help to sustain energy, control glucose and insulin, reduce absorption of fat and bile and contribute to the health of the lower intestine.

The cereal germ is full of highly unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E. Vitamin E, once inside the body, acts as an antioxidant disabling free radicals. It also protects red and white blood cells, which means it is an important participant in your immune system.

Unfortunately, the oils in ground flours and cereals are very volatile and begin to oxidize and turn rancid almost as soon as the grain is ground. Rancid oils contain free radicals which result in aging, heart disease and other degenerative diseases. Free radicals are also formed when grains are milled at high temperatures. This commonly occurs with metal-grinding mechanisms resulting in the break down of fat molecules in the grain.

Stone grain mills have been designed to help preserve the availability of the grain's nutrients for your body. By using LOW TEMPERATURE stonegrinding, cereals are ground UNDER the critical temperature of 41ºC (106ºF) and fine pastry flour under 65ºC (149ºF). Using the grain immediately after milling also helps to minimize oxidation of the extremely perishable oils.

Use any one of our stone-grinding mills and experience the distinctive, wonderful flavour and aroma found in freshly ground grains and know you are receiving the optimal nutritional value from your flours and cereals.

A wheat kernel consists of the endosperm, germ and bran. Milling separates the endosperm from the germ and the bran by breaking the kernel into smaller and finer particles. Slow turning millstones grind the endosperm and germ (containing its nutritious wheat germ oil) into flour in a cool natural way, creating a healthier food product. The cool stone grinding process preserves valuable nutrients which are lost in conventional high-speed, high heat roller type milling. When this slower method is coupled with the highest quality wheat, it produces naturally wholesome unbleached flour.

The Stone Mills flour is stone ground in a very special way. This stone grinding process ensures a particularly natural and healthy end product which bakers find more economical to use than standard commercial alternatives that are available. Standard commercial flour-mills employ equipment requiring 14 sets of steel rollers or hammers to break the wheat. These rollers or hammers generate extremely high temperatures, inevitably damaging the wheat germ and also destroying valuable vitamins and enzymes in the process. During the process the fine, top-quality flour is continually abstracted for use in cake flour and self-raising flour, whereas stone ground flour retains all the healthy wheat germ, natural oils, vitamins, enzymes, thus making it nutritiously good and wholesome.

The traditional Stone Ground method grinding of wheat between stones is used to develop a flour of the highest quality. It is this slow process that helps to retain the flours natural state of minerals, vitamins and proteins.

The stone ground flour motto of, "nothing added nothing removed" means exactly that. The goodness that goes in the top of the mill, is what comes out at the bottom. No iron or preservatives or any other colors or bleaching agents have been added.

The growing demand for health foods containing dietary fibres has led to a renewed interest in traditional stone grinding of cereals.

The flour produced on stone mills contains all the natural vitamins, minerals and ballast substances and can be used for baking without further processing.

Furthermore, the stone ground flour has a larger surface increasing the ability to absorb liquid, giving an airy and elastic dough easy to work with.

By using daily ground flour the natural contents of nutrients and flavour also stand out giving the bread better aroma as well as flavour.

There are several advantages to stone-ground wheat flour. The endosperm, bran, and germ remain in their natural, original proportions. Because the stones grind slowly, the wheat germ is not exposed to excessive temperatures. Heat causes the fat from the germ portion to oxidize and become rancid and much of the vitamins to be destroyed.

Since only a small amount of grain is ground at once, the fat from the germ is well distributed which also minimizes spoilage. Nutritive losses due to oxygen exposure are also limited by the fact that stone-ground flour is usually coarser.

As expressed in The Bread Book, stone-ground flour is preferred by many bakers and natural food advocates because of its texture, its sweet and nutty flavour, and the beliefs that it is nutritionally superior and has a better baking quality than steel-roller-milled flour.

Moritz and Jones (1950) and Schultz et al. (1942) showed that stone-milled flour was relatively high in thiamin, compared to roller-milled flour, especially when from hard wheat.