RUSTIC ‘RED FIFE’ WHEAT

I remember going as a youngster with my grandparents to Greenfield Mills — a family-owned mill that was just outside of Howe, Indiana — to get freshly ground ‘Red Fife’ flour. My grandmother would then use the flour to make the most delectable sweet treats imaginable.

‘Red Fife’ is a cultivar of hard red wheat that first gained popularity in the 1840s when Scottish farmer David Fife (for whom the cultivar is named) grew the wheat at his home in Canada. Prior to that, its origins are a little murky.

Some say Fife asked a friend in Glasgow to ship him the seed, others say that Fife brought the seed with him when he immigrated to Canada. Many experts believe the cultivar is the same as, or a relative of, a Ukrainian wheat called ‘Halychanka,’ although some believe that it’s an accidental hybrid created by Fife. Regardless of its origins, once ‘Red Fife’ got a foothold in Canada, it quickly spread throughout North America, and many modern hard red wheats can be traced back to this heritage grain.

‘Red Fife’