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)

Growing like a Wild Fire-- Bakery, that is

For our first actual post, we thought we’d take one for the team, do some hard-core research, get our hands a little sticky, and… eat? 

Let's face it, one of the best parts about being environmentally conscious is that your new mind-frame can open up new culinary doors. For example, located on the corner of Quadra and Pandora (right by the #6 bus stop for all you bikers and mass transit takers) is a beacon of Victoria’s slow food* movement: Wild Fire Bakery.  Though a little out of the city center, it’s hard to miss the colourful mural on the Pandora side of the building. But it’s not the mural or the juxtaposing cozy, rustic interior that keep a steady stream of customers coming from 7:30 a.m. till closing, (usually leaving with a couple of bags, a few boxes, or scattered crumbs on their sleeves).  Wild Fire is famous for their artesian breads, their use of Red Fife wheat*, their cakes, and pastries—all organic, predominantly made from products grown on Vancouver Island or along the lower mainland, and some products that are vegan friendly, as well as wheat, gluten, sugar, diary, and/or egg free. 

“Local Kine Grindz”

Organic in itself is not necessarily enough to make it on this list. What makes Wild Fire stand apart is its commitment to supporting local and organic farmers.  Why can buying local be such a great thing?  First, it supports local and often times smaller farms.  Wild Fire Bakery keeps development local and helps sustain the important business of agriculture on Vancouver Island and the lower mainland.  By buying local, Wild Fire also reduces the amount of carbon emissions it could produce by importing food from say the US, Europe, or Asia.  Keeping the business local creates a community of ecological economics, a term coined by Paul Hawken. (Refer to side bar for reading recommendation).

(We’ll have more on the benefits of eating local coming up in the following weeks—most probably with next week’s post on Victoria’s Good Food Box).  

Biting In

Now, before you admire the building art, let us suggest that you step inside and grab a few snacks (or a Raspberry Mousse Cake or a loaf of Sprout Bread). Today we played it a little light and picked up a croissant, a blueberry Danish, a delicious chocolate tart, and a piece of carrot cake (unfortunately sans cream cheese icing).  We even had a guest taster—the fabulous Lisa—to help us with the taste test and see if this organic, local bakery really measured up. 

“Delicious” was probably the dead giveaway about the tart.  Emily liked the way the tart was neither too rich, nor too sweet.  The filling, a light but creamy chocolate, complimented the flaky pastry.  The best part about the tart, though, was the thin shavings of milk and white chocolate on top.  They literally melt in your mouth.  

The carrot cake—we weren’t so sold on.  However, this might be due to the buyer’s faux pas.  Way to not ask for the cream cheese icing, Katie.  But let Katie’s mistake be a warning to you all—ask for the icing.  The slice was also a bit small, but for about $1.25, not too bad.   The cake itself was moist but did contain raisins (note to readers of authors’ bias: raisins in baked goods just don’t fly). 

The naturally leavened croissant proved Katie’s favorite—crisp on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside, with just enough flaking to make every bite mouth watering.

And last but not least, Lisa’s favorite and all around crowd pleaser, the Blueberry Danish.  While the Danish you usually get is thin with more custard than fruit, this Danish was leavened and lined in the middle of its curve with just enough blueberries to make a mouth happy (if you like blueberries of course).  The bread had just the right amount of give when your teeth first bit in and seemed to melt in your mouth by the center.  And while Danishes tend to be overly sweet, this one’s likeness to an unsweetened, un-cinammon-ed bun impressed the three judges.

Verdict: Check it out.  Whether you’re vegan and looking for some delicious pastries, or you're just looking for delicious pastries—it’s a yummy, local, artesian bakery to a grab breakfast, snack, or dessert at. They even have sandwiches (which look delicious). 

If you try the sandwiches or any of the other products, leave a comment and tell us what you think. Also, let us know what you’d like to hear about, how you think this blog can improve, etc. We’d love to hear from you. 

*Also, stay tuned for Wednesday’s follow-up post on Red Fife wheat and Friday’s post on the slow food movement, as well as next week’s post on Victoria’s Good Food Box.

Oh yeah, and remember to ask for the cream cheese frosting. 

Thanks for reading! Happy greening!

Wild Fire Bakery:

1517 Quadra St.

Victoria, BV V8W 2L3

(250)381-3474

wildfirebreads@shaw.ca

Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Here's a great article on Wild Fire Bakery and Red Fife to tide you over till Wednesday from EAT Magazine.