Red Fife: Eat Your Heart Out

Part of our goal is to keep the blog posts fairly manageable in size.  But what this might mean is an occasional “cliff-hanger” (we know you were all constantly refreshing the blog page in hopes of finding out what Red Fife was).  So instead of making a super long post and cramming everything in at once, we’ll occasionally have these follow-up posts to explain key terms and movements.  We will also try to identify what terms we will follow up on in the first post of the week.  Also, if there is anything you’d like us to follow up on, post your comments or send an e-mail!  We’d love to hear from you. 

What’s In a Grain? 

Now for the good stuff.  What exactly is this Red Fife that’s got artesian bakeries across Canada all in a tizzy?  

Well, for starters it’s one of Canada’s oldest heritage wheat, coming to these soils in 1842.  Don Genova in the Georgia Straight describes the mythical origins of this tiny grain, from an accidental trip on a hatband from a Ukrainian ship to a whacked out sample from Scotland.  In the end, however, it all ends up with a farmer in central Ontario named David Fife.  Because of Red Fife’s resistance to disease, early harvests, and heartiness in the harsh Ontario and later Prairie winters, it quickly became a staple of the Canadian landscape.

What are the benefits of Red Fife?  Well for one, because it is suited to Canada’s climate and soil, it requires minimal chemical inputs.  Red Fife is also the parent of most of Canada’s wheat. The fact that it was not manufactured in a lab is also a plus, creating a relationship between farmer and plant, human and nature—a relationship we are finding more and more important especially as we read Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement In the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming.

Despite the environmental benefits of a low chemical dependency and natural adaptation to the Canadian landscape, Red Fife’s popularity on the farm diminished over the years.  This is in part due to a hybrid wheat called Marquis Wheat.  This cross between Red Fife and Hard Red Calcutta wheat seemed to be even more resistant to disease and the Canadian climate.  Promoted by the Canadian Wheat Board, it quickly took over the tilled land once set aside for Red Fife.  Today only a handful of farmers grow and harvest this heritage wheat.  Despite it’s heartiness and rich flavor (I highly recommend the Three Seed Loaf from Wild Fire), Red Fife teetered on the brink of extinction as of 2004.  But with the encouragement of bakeries like Wild Fire and efforts by environmentalists like Sharon Rempel of The Garden Institute of B.C., Red Fife is making a come back on the farms and on Canadian palates. 

Old Grain, New Buzz

In light of Red Fife’s deep history in the Canadian landscape, it almost seems glib to say that Wild Fire Bakery introduced Red Fife to Vancouver Islander’s palates in 2003.  But if you checked out the EAT Magazine article on the connection between Red Fife’s revival and Wild Fire’s success, you’ve seen how promoting sustainable agricultural practices can also be a boon to the economy.  

Red Fife is not all fluff; it’s substance.  Seriously, try one of Wild Fire’s Red Fife loafs (most loaves except for Rye and other specific-grain breads).  You’ll notice the difference right away.  The texture contains just the right balance of substance and give. The taste—a little  Emril Lagasi “Bam!” or what EAT Magazine describes more eloquently as a “unique herby and spicy flavour with a subtle touch of anise and fennel.”    

More than just taste and preservation of an important heritage wheat, the burgeoning market for Red Fife encourages farmers to move away from wheat with patent and ownership baggage.  How strange is it, by the way, that one can patent a seed?

Once people rediscovered the unique taste of Red Fife, the market picked up.  More and more farmers are opening up their acres to this heritage wheat.  While Wild Fire gets its Red Fife from Saskatoon, farmers in Vancouver Island are climbing on board with the Red Fife movement. It won’t be long before Wild Fire is able to be entirely 100-mile-diet-friendly.  

More questions about Red Fife and its ecological benefits? Ask away!  We look forward to your comments and appreciate the insightful, helpful, and encouraging comments we’ve received from our readers so far. Thank you! And thank you all for reading!

Happy Geening!

Katie’s favorite homemade sandwich: 

Two slices of Wild Fire Bakery’s Three Seed bread

Avocado 

Red Leaf lettuce

Alfalfa sprouts

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

and a little bit of mayo

(she would’ve taken a picture, but… she ate it)