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Getting the best out of wheat ...

At Carr's we regard wheat as much more than just a raw material - the unique combination of starch and gluten makes wheat a very special cereal.

As millers we unravel the complexities to exploit the wheat’s full potential.

USING THE WHEATS AVAILABLE

Selecting the right wheat is crucial. Most UK mills are situated in areas of intense home-grown wheat production and tend to draw on wheat from the immediate surroundings. Our mills are sited according to the flours we produce.

• Carr's Flour, Greens is in Maldon, Essex – right in the heartland of the best bread milling wheat growing area in the UK. Indeed most of the wheat is sourced from within a 30-mile radius of the mill.
• Carr's Flour, Silloth is adjacent to its own port, where we can take full advantage of high quality imported wheats from all around the world. Currently the majority of the wheat used here is actually delivered by vessel rather than by road, saving over 500,000 truck miles per year and cutting many tonnes of CO² emissions.
• Carr’s Flour, Hutchisons is based in Kirkcaldy where we make the best use of both high quality imported wheats coming in through a nearby port, and also the locally grown soft milling wheats which have made the Scottish Shortbread Biscuits so famous globally.

We will always scour the globe for different wheats, which for varietal, climatic or agronomic reasons (or a combination of all three) can offer something extra to our customers, and of course the lucky consumers who enjoy eating their products.

GERMAN ‘E’ WHEAT

A good example of this is our use of wheat from eastern Germany.

Soon after the Berlin Wall came down, we received samples of wheat from the former collective farms. The best of these wheats the ‘Elite’ (E) wheats, were far better breadmaking quality than the best UK wheats.

From that day on, we have been shipping coasters of German ‘E’ wheat to our mills on a regular basis.

ANALYSING NEW VARIETIES

Today our research and development team receives samples of wheat varieties from all over the world. These are carefully analysed, including pilot plant milling and test baking to assess their suitability.

To try and ensure a future supply of quality wheats we maintain a regular dialogue with wheat breeders regarding new varieties.

Each wheat variety has a limited life-span, possibly only years in commercial usage.

New varieties are constantly being developed and we work in partnership with the wheat breeders to evaluate potential.

FOOD SAFETY

Food safety is an extremely important part of the business. Our hands-on approach to wheat buying means we can be confident about the integrity of supply.

All UK wheat comes from farmers which are accredited members of a recognised                         crop assurance scheme.

When sourcing wheat from abroad we check the supply chain ourselves. Wherever we can, we try and move wheat by water in order to reduce congestion on the roads and play our part in reducing our CO2 emissions.

All vessels are very thoroughly checked at load by independent Cargo Superintendents, and then checked once again on arrival by Superintendents or our own staff.