In preparation for my fast-approaching month of being a Pennsylvaniavore, I’ve begun collecting some non-perishables. Thinking ahead about bread and breakfast, I decided to go in search of some flour products milled in PA. Some inquiries on the internets turned up information about the Mill at Anselma, just a short trip out of Philadelphia in Chester Springs.
the Mill at Anselma
A national historic landmark, the mill does daily tours and educational milling demonstrations a couple of times a month. They also sell wheat flour and corn meal milled right in the antique structure.
I scootered out to the mill with my friend Stefan and we signed on for a tour before flour shopping. It’s a fun walk back through the mill’s history and operation. One of the early 20th century millers in charge of the place also had a machine shop to make some extra cash, so the place is packed with rusty tools – a bonus for the tool-o-phile.
some gears and cogs of the mill
how barrels got filled with processed flour or grains
After the tour, we headed back to the mill’s shop to find out what sorts of flours and such were on offer. The mill sells roasted corn meal, bread flour, and pastry flour in organic and not-quite-organic varieties, not to mention a range of stoneware items and official mill shirts and gear.
if only they made coffee in PA!
Anselma's flour and cornmeal products
The mill gets its corn from a local grower in Lititz, PA, while the wheat for the flour originates in the midwest (the processing in PA makes the resulting flour an acceptable item of consumption for my PA foods month). We each took home some corn meal and bread flour; I’m thinking hot cornmeal breakfasts, some loaves of bread, and crepes. First things first: get the carbs secured.
-Jen
