Buckwheat industry is growing in the Finger Lakes

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Nov 11, 1996 by Koss, Andrew

Most people have heard of the Finger Lakes' wine industry, but very few have heard of its less famous buckwheat industry.

The world's largest buckwheat milling company is Birkett Mills located in Penn Yan, N.Y. Besides producing buckwheat flour and pancake mix, it also makes Wolff's Kasha, the nation's largest-selling brand of kasha (roasted buckwheat groats).

Birkett Mills was founded in 1797 by Abraham Wagner, one of Penn Yan's original settlers. Local farmers brought wheat, corn, and oats there to be milled into flour, which they then brought home for cooking. Although most of the original equipment has been replaced, Birkett Mills is still among the country's oldest operating mills. In the early 1800s, Birkett and Russell, two Pennsylvanian entrepreneurs, bought the company. Eventually, Claude Birkett bought up all the stock. Ownership of the mill has changed hands several times since then, but the name "Birkett Mills" has stuck. In the 1940s, the company bought the Wolff's brand name from the Wolff Brothers, New Jersey millers. Birkett Mills already was milling buckwheat by that time, but it wasn't until the acquisition of the brand name that it started producing kasha, now one of its biggest sources of revenue.

There is also a wheat mill. Most of the wheat flour is sold to bakery supply companies and cookie manufacturers. It is also marketed as Bethy's pastry flour. In addition, Birkett once sold steam-power to the town; at another time it owned the Penn Yan gas station. Today, Birkett Mills has 50 employees and is owned by President William Whenner and Vice President Jeff Gifford.

When Gifford was a child, his family grew buckwheat as a cash crop on its dairy farm in the Finer Lakes, and sold the buckwheat to Birkett Mills. As soon as he was old enough, Gifford was given the responsibility for this crop. He had never heard of kasha and thought that buckwheat was only for pancakes. After college, he returned to the area and worked in a winery before joining Birkett Mills.

Buckwheat is grown all over the U.S. and Canada, but most of it comes from New York and Pennsylvania. It grows well in climates like that of Central New York, where summers aren't too hot and frost arrives in October. The wheat comes almost exclusively from farms within a 70-mile radius of the mill.

Historically, buckwheat originated in Asia and was first brought to the New World by Dutch settlers who grew it in the Hudson River Valley. It was a very important crop in the United States at one time, but today it is only the country's twelfth largest grain crop. Technically, buckwheat is not a grain, but a fruit similar to rhubarb.

Buckwheat is most popular in America in the form of pancakes, but its roasted groats are widely eaten by people of Eastern European descent. Blini, kasha varnishes, cream-of-buckwheat cereal, and Japanese soba noodles are traditional international buckwheat dishes. Buckwheat is also the source of a dark-colored honey.

Recently, buckwheat has increased in popularity because of its nutritive value -- it is high in protein and complex carbohydrates, low in fat, and is cholesterol-and gluten-free. Furthermore, it is grown without pesticides or herbicides. Birkett Mills even has its own health-food line called Pocono, which was purchased from a mill in the Poconos. Pocono makes the same products that Wolff's does, but it markets specifically to healthfood stores. Buckwheat-pancake mix is marketed under the name Puritan. Because it has been around so long and is so well established, Wolff's is still Birkett Mills' major source of revenue, but Pocono is becoming increasingly important. Wolff's has both French and Hebrew labels, and is sold in Israel and throughout Europe.

On September 27-29, Birkett Mills, along with various other local businesses, sponsored the eleventh annual Buckwheat Harvest Festival in Penn Yan. The festival is run by the National Buckwheat Institute, a not-for-profit organization also located in Penn Yan. All the food sold at the festival contains buckwheat. Rides, arts-and-crafts displays, and performers are major attractions at the festival.