Bake with fresh-ground organic Canadian grain
Bake like it’s 1849.
Baked goods weren't always junk food, but our modern industrial world has made them so. Let us take you back to when baking was done with natural whole grain flour, freshly milled.
Unlike almost all modern baking, when you bake with GRAINSTORM, you’re baking nutritious, real food. That’s because your main ingredient—the flour—is actually nutritious, real food: organic heritage grains that are whole and fresh, rather than the usual glutenous industrial filler. Discover what our ancestors knew for eons and we have forgotten: to provide sustanence, grain needs to be whole, and it needs to be fresh.
And here’s what’s really fabulous: besides being worlds away nutritionally, fresh-ground whole grains taste amazing. Fresh, light, delicately earthy and richly textured—so good we use 50-70% less sugar so the character of the grains shine through. You simply won’t believe that whole grain baking can be this appealing.
Authentic pre-industrial results
—21st century easy.
That’s the big idea behind GRAINSTORM: to make healthy baking with fresh ground grain easy and convenient for expert and novice alike. With shockingly little time or fuss, you’ll create beautiful rustic baked goods, bursting with rich grainy flavors and textures and rich in whole food value. Delicious baked treats that not only satisfy sweet carb cravings but contribute to your family’s good health rather than undermining it.
It’s so simple: You start with our beautiful fresh-ground organic heritage mixes. Then you add delicious, whole food ingredients from your kitchen like eggs, yogurt, butter, olive oil, fresh fruit and vegetables. (We’ve got great recipes here on the website, or you can create your own.) You’ll be thrilled with the results: true artisan baked goods that are incredibly different, absolutely delicous and actually nutritious, real food.
So welcome to pre-industrial baking: the way it was before genetic modification, factory farming and modern food processing turned a thousand years of sustenance tradition into empty, fattening junk food. Let us take you back.
Made with organic Canadian heritage and ancient grains
It all starts with Sean
He’s the organic farmer that supplies our heritage and ancient grains. He farms near Owen Sound, Ontario. If he doesn’t grow it himself, he knows the man who does. Like us, Sean believes in back-to-basics local sustainability and is building his business on it. His yields are a fraction of what he would get with commercial wheat, but he can sell at a premium to discerning customers. It’s well worth the price in nutrition, flavor and sustainability.
No modern wheat
We only use ancient and heritage varietal grains like spelt, kamut and red fife, and stay way clear of modern commodity wheat. Why? Modern wheat has been continuously cross-bred and hybridized over the last 100 years, with always the same goals in mind: increased yields for industrial farming, and improved “baking properties” (i.e. more gluten) for industrial baking. Which is all very well for industry, except an astonishing number of people now complain of an inability to digest wheat, or have a wheat allergy. Yet, many of these people find they can tolerate spelt and kamut. What’s going on here? Not sure, but we’ll stick with the stuff that has nourished civilizations for 10,000 years, rather than modernized version that seems to be increasingly wrecking our health.
Why fresh ground grain?
Make wheat a healthy staple again.
Bake with heritage grains milled whole and FRESH
Grain has been a nourishing staple for 10,000 years. But like any natural food, it needs to be whole. And it needs to be FRESH. This simple wisdom of our ancestors has somehow been forgotten.
Our mission is to help bring this back.
Grain has been at the heart of humankind's diet for many thousands of years. And no wonder; it’s a marvel of nutrition, each seed a dense and complex concentration of nourishment beautifully packaged and protected by mother nature. In whole kernel form, it stores for years with all that goodness sealed safely inside. And this is how grains have been consumed for eons—stored in whole kernel form and prepared fresh each day.
Of course, since the industrialization of food, most of our wheat is now consumed in the form of very highly processed white flour which is so devoid of food value that bugs won’t eat it. And neither should we.
Modern white flour keeps for years. But to reap the traditional nourishing benefits, stone ground whole meal flour needs to be FRESH. Pretty intuitive once you give it a thought. A farmer we know offered this anecdote from the farm:
“Our pigs are grain-fed. We grind it for them fresh everyday. If it's not fresh, they don’t like it, and they don’t thrive.”
Like any natural raw food, whole grains need to be consumed fresh. Once the kernel is broken and ground into flour, it starts oxidizing and degrading immediately. (That's why, so often, whole grain baking doesn't taste good—the flour is stale and/or rancid.) Fresh is the key, not only to great nutrition, but to great taste as well. To a pig, these are one and the same. Very smart.
Now you too can eat like a pig!
We start with organic Canadian heritage grains, and we grind the grain ourselves on our artisan stone mill (special-ordered from France), in an old-fashioned coarse style, totally unlatered and unsifted, for amazing texture and superior nutrition. Then, within hours, or even minutes, we vacuum seal the bag so the flour doesn’t oxidize and is still beautifully fresh when you open it in your kitchen.
So with GRAINSTORM, you’ll taste—perhaps for the first time— whole grains as they have been enjoyed through the ages. (And the way pigs demand it.) You’ll be baking with fresh, grainy goodness rather than toxic industrial filler.
Fresh grain baking
A whole different food experience
In much of modern baking, the white flour serves simply as a bland, glutinous carrier for other flavors. With GRAINSTORM, the taste experience is about the grain — showcasing the wonderful earthy flavor and stone-milled textures of fresh grain to create a whole different kind of food experience.
Our mixes use up to 70% less sugar than typical to let the complex grainy flavors shine through. And base recipes call for nutritious whole foods like eggs, yogurt, butter and extra virgin olive oil. You may add some fresh organic fruit or vegetables. The end result is delicately fragrant, richly textured whole grain baking like nothing you've ever tasted—as uniquely satisfying to the palate as it is nourishing to your body. It’s wholesome, real food that you'll feel great about creating, eating and serving.
Baked goods that are good carbs
Want to be vital and thin and still eat muffins? So did we.
For many of us, eating baked goods makes us feel bad. That's because modern food processing has turned baked goods into bad carbs. “Goodies” filled with white flour, tons of sugar and cheap oil, provide lots of calories with little nutrition that sends your blood sugar into unhealthy and fattening “need and feed” cycles. Not to mention common preservatives and other additives that put a toxic load on our systems. No wonder baked goods can feel bad. But it wasn't always like this, and doesn't need to be now.
Baked goods that FEEL great
GRAINSTORM baking is dense with balanced nutrition that nourishes your body while satisfying sweet carb cravings. It tastes different. It FEELS different. Our coarse, unsifted whole grains digest more slowly, so you'll be full and energized for hours. And because you are ingesting modest amounts of sugar—and bundled with proteins, moderate healthy fats and lots of fiber—there’s no sugar crash. So you feel great, and crave less.
Baked goods as diet food? YES!
And because it is nourishing, real food, GRAINSTORM baked goods can play an important role in weight control too. They're not typical low-fat, low-cal diet food. In fact, it's the opposite of modern “diet” food: whole, natural and calorie-dense. And that's why it works as a diet food. You get satisfying earthy sustenance—the kind the human body is genetically adapted to—the way it was before we turned industrial and started wrecking our food.
These are baked goods that actually HELP your diet rather than sabotaging it.
Kids and whole grains: a healthy relationship
Whole grains kids actually like
Teaching kids to be healthy eaters has never been more challenging, or more important. With junk foods dominating our eating culture—even school cafeterias—learning to discern and enjoy real wholesome food has become a critical life skill. We can help.
The great news is, most kids love our stuff. Fresh-ground whole grains are naturally delicious and appealing to the young palate, with none of that "healthy" stale cardboard taste usually associated with whole grains. And with much less sugar than typical baked goods, your child is calibrating her taste buds to enjoy sugar in moderate amounts. And of course, you are not feeding her empty calories but rather providing a "treat" that is actually packed with wholesome nutrition. And no sugar rush and crash (yesss!).
GRAINSTORM baking is quick and easy to prepare, and it fits nicely with busy modern family life:
- keep muffins and pancakes in the freezer for a quick and satisfying school day breakfasts
- pack for school snacks and lunches (all our products are nut- and peanut-free)
- a great bed-time snack too—WAY BETTER than the healthiest cereal
- preparing GRAINSTORM goodies is a great family activity that helps kids connect with food and learn about healthy eating
Incorporating GRAINSTORM into your family meal planning strategy will both nourish and delight your children, while helping them develop life-long healthy eating habits. And it's great for you too!
Baking mix that's WAY better than scratch
Amazing artisan results. Amazingly simple.
With one bowl, two utensils and very little fuss, you can get a batch in the oven in under 10 minutes.
So easy it feels like cheating. But this isn’t cutting corners — far from it. Unless you grind your own organic grains at home, you simply can’t get this quality any other way.
Sadly, junk food is everywhere in our modern world, while healthy eating can take substantial effort and planning. This is where GRAINSTORM can play a critical role in providing you and your family with delicious good carbs that help keep you and your family vital and energized.
A complete whole grain baking system
Our mixes are the foundation for an entire easy-to-use system of healthy baking that works for novices and experts alike. And because the finished goods freeze and reheat beautifully, it’s super-convenient to have delicious wholesome snacks always on hand—for home, school or office.
Whole grain artisan baking with GRAINSTORM is:
- FAST & NEAT—you can have a batch in the oven in less than ten minutes; and all you need is one bowl, one pan, a spatula and a spoon; no need to get out the mixer and hardly anything to wash
- EASY & FORGIVING—there’s no critical measuring involved, it’s okay if you estimate a little too much one way or the other; after a few times you’ll be able to do it in your sleep
- CREATIVE & FLEXIBLE — our mixes are designed as a flexible baking base: we've got great recipes to get you started and there's no limit to what you can create on your own. Want to go richer or leaner? A little extra sugar? It's yours to customize!
- FUN & SATISFYING—so easy to work with and get reliable results your family will love; you’ll love the satisfaction you get from serving something so wholesome and delicious
REMEMBER: Our baking mixes are fast and easy — but that's just a bonus. The real benefit is remarkable healthy baking results you simply can’t get from scratch unless you grind your own heritage grains.
