The finest Artisan Flour!
The Historic Arva Flour Mill has been in continuous operation for 204 YEARS, making the Mill Canada’s 6th oldest continuously operating business and perhaps the oldest agri-food business in Canada. We produce a true artisan flour, using our antique Goldie & McCullough cold roller mills that replaced the stone ground grist mills in 1904. Our Mills maybe the last of this vintage found anywhere in North America!
Our flours are all natural, with NO PRESERVATIVES, CHEMICALS, OR ENHANCERS ADDED. This makes natural flours more perishable than the commercially altered flours. For this reason, we recommend that you store our flours in their paper bag or an air tight sealed container, in a cool dry environment, preferably in the fridge or freezer if you are not planning to use it within a month or two. Like any other plant based organism, it will deteriorate more quickly on the counter than in the refrigerator.
How do we get flour from a kernel of wheat? A wheat kernel is comprised mainly of:
- Endosperm ( approx. 83% of the kernel )
- Bran ( approx. 14% of the kernel )
- Germ ( approx. 2.5% of the kernel )
There are many types of wheat flours, each having it’s own characteristics. Over many years, we have perfected the flours that our loyal customers enjoy so much. We add NO preservatives, bleaches or enhancers.
Our flour is shipped fresh directly to your door and has not sat on a shelf or in a warehouse for weeks or months.
Our mill is a genuine vintage mill and not just a name.
We mill five different flours with wheat grown locally from smaller nearby farms.
- Arva DAISY 100% Whole Wheat Hard Flour
We package this flour in our original style paper bags. This flour is made from the entire kernel of our best local hard wheat and is thus higher in dietary fiber and overall nutrient content than white flours. It is often mixed with unbleached hard white bread flour when making yeast breads, to avoid the “heaviness” effect. Whole wheat flour is a good source of calcium, iron and fiber. We ship fresh directly to your door.
- Arva DAISY Unbleached Hard Flour ( Our All Purpose or Bread flour )
We package this flour in our original style paper bags. It is made from the center portion of the endosperm, with the bran and germ removed, ( which contains a good percentage of the nutrients such as niacin, riboflavin and thiamine).
By law, the the flour must be "fortified “ again with these nutrients being added back into the white flour, along with iron. Our hard white bread flour is unsurpassed and excellent for making bread. Protein content ranges from 11% to 12% for this flour. This is our "all purpose" or "bread" flour and is ideal for most of your baking needs at home and is shipped fresh directly to your door.
- Arva IMPERIAL Unbleached Pastry Flour
This Patent flour is the purest and highest quality white wheat flour available and our flour certainly falls into that category.
Our unique pastry flour is made from white soft wheat and falls somewhere between our bread flour and cake flour in terms of protein content and baking properties. Sometimes known as cookie flour, it has a protein (gluten) content 9% to 10 %.
Use it for making biscuits, piecrusts, brownies, cookies and quick breads. It makes a tender but crumbly pastry. Our pastry flour is truly all-natural, unbleached and contains no chemicals or preservatives.
4. ARVA White Spelt Flour (Whole Spelt also available)
Our White Spelt Flour is an incredibly light, and nutritious flour, it is our Specialty at the Mill and in our humble opinion, ranks with some of the best flour that is produced anywhere in the world. The combination of wonderfully produced local spelt grain that is milled with our ancient cold roller mills, makes for a truly Artisan Flour that can’t be replicated anywhere!
Spelt is a highly nutritious and healthy flour option, packed full of fibre and is a replacement for your regular all purpose white flour. The baking result is light, easier-to-rise bread with a distinctive nutty and sweet flavour. White Spelt flour is a highly nutritious and healthy option, packed full of fibre. White Spelt is lower on the glycemic index and is also tolerated by some folks with gluten sensitivities.
5. New! Arva Red Fife Flour (White and Whole Red Fife flour is available)
Red Fife Wheat was brought to Canada a little over 170 years ago and is said to be Canada's oldest wheat. Up until the end of the 19th century Red Fife was the dominant hard wheat planted across the prairies. Fast forward to today and Red Fife is making a resurgence thanks to its nutritional value and flavour.
With subtle notes of stone fruit and pecan, the butter smooth body of Red Fife will add a unique and delicious flavour to baked goods. Use it interchangeably with our Daisy 100% Whole Wheat flour or play around with mixtures of both in your recipe.
Red Fife is a very recent addition to the different flours produced at Arva Flour Mills and is a true Artisan flour! Try some today!