Kansas Visitor's Guide 2007/2008 - (Page 68) W H E AT I cruise west, off the main highway, toward Hudson (population 145) and a 100foot-tall grain elevator like the ones that mark hundreds of other Kansas towns. OV ER MILLIONS OF Y E A R S in the snail’s pace of geologic time, Kansas and most of the rest of the Great Plains lay submerged at the bottom of giant oceans that ebbed and flowed, leaving behind the limestone and shale that underlie most of the state today. Now, waves of a different type riffle in the prairie winds—golden wheat. Kansas is America’s No. 1 wheat state, leading the nation in both wheat production and flour milling. Of course, my journey is as much about what Midwesterners eat as about what they grow. My first stop is Yoder, a prosperous west-central Kansas community just off busy K-96 about 40 miles northwest of Wichita and 12 miles southeast of Hutchinson. Like many tourism-oriented communities across the Midwest, Yoder thrives because it’s at the heart of an Amish-Mennonite district of livestock and dairy farms. The village teems with shops that purvey handcrafted furniture, antiques, meats and sausages, candles, hardware, quilts, crafts—and hearty Amish food at the Carriage Crossing Restaurant. My hosts for a midmorning breakfast here are Dawnita and Mike Miller. Looking around from my seat in the big dining room I see platter-size, 99-cent cinnamon rolls oozing a brownsugar-and-butter frosting (they bake about 16 dozen each day here). The Millers’ wonderful cinnamon rolls are made with Hudson Cream Flour, which comes from a mill about 60 miles west of Yoder in an even smaller community, Hudson (population 145). I cruise west, off the main highway, toward the Stafford County Flour Mill, where I’m greeted by Al Brensing, spry, witty—and 88 years “old.” He’s worked at the mill since 1937, taking only two years off to serve with the armed forces during World War II. Not surprisingly, Al attributes much of his longevity to eating his own product, a premium baking flour with a cultlike following across the United States. The Stafford Mill is the last of Kansas’ independently run large flour mills. These days, most of the state’s wheat gets processed by corporate giants such as ConAgra, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill. As we tour the facility, Al shares some of its history and describes the milling process. Hudson’s mill was founded by a German immigrant, Gustav Krug. 68 Official Kansas Visitors Guide PHOTOGRAPHS, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JOHN NOLTNER (2), BOB STEFKO (3) Amber Waves of Grain
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