User:Anielsen8190/Unifine Flour

Early Production of Unifine Flour-Washington State University’s involvement:

In 1948, Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington, was approached by John Wright, a member of the division of industrial research, with the challenge of creating a new type of flour. As a result of World War Two reviews, Wright wanted the University to produce a type of whole wheat flour that would remain rancid free for a longer period of time that traditional flour. The United States army granted Washington State University $70,000 to “create bread that would last for 3-4 months, and not taste significantly different from a regular loaf” with the hopes of eliminating molding and hardening of bread loaves. The University picked up this task in the late 1940’s and began testing different theories and designing a new flour mill. An individual who took up interest in the new flour was Mary Stevens, who was a graduate student at Washington State University. Stevens focused her thesis around the experimental baking of bread loaves that contained the Unifine Flour. She tried baking different types of bread with the new flour with the thought that it could be marketed to the public. However, “it wasn’t until 1981 that she, along with other Pullman investors, decided to by a mill, set it up and begin the business of milling flour”. With the contribution of mostly Washington State University faculty members, Stevens opened the very first Unifine mill, forming the Unifine Milling Company of Pullman. The production of this new type of flour followed the basic guidelines “nothing removed, nothing added” ; preservatives were not needed in order to keep this flour fresh. This specific characteristic helped increase “the baking quality of white flour and the nutritional value of whole grain flour”. The main difference between traditional flour and the new Unifine Flour was that “the flour contained the entire wheat berry, ground to a uniform fineness”. Although many types of wheat were tested in order to see which type would produce the best flour, red wheat and some white wheat gave the best outcomes. The wheat went through a process that would make the flour extra fine in comparison to regular flour. Another key characteristic, along with the Unifine Flour, in the production of the breads was a type of rare yeast that Washington State University had to ask Japan for. Although, initially the flour created for experimental research, when news of Unifine Flour first came out “several large companies and countries expressed interest in marketing the Unifine process in 1950 after Washington State University researchers wrote about it in a tech bulletin”. Companies like Pillsbury, approached Washington State University in 1959 and asked them to send their company a sample of the flour so they could test it with their product. Even after a few mills were established and the Unifine process was proven to be effective, very few people found interest in the new brand of flour. The Unifine Flour project was eventually dropped at Washington State University because of what the professors called a “lack of interest”. People did not find the significance of having a type of bread that would last for 3 months, when they could purchase fresh bread every day. In addition, the price of Unifine Flour was too high in comparison to traditional flour brands and people did not want to purchase an unknown product. The American population was not ready for the production and sales of this new line of flour.