After much thinking about how many miles wheat travels to get to our table, and in general how many "energy servants" are needed to get those little wheat berries from the field (?Montana or ?) to the bag in Whole Foods in St. Louis, I decided to experiment with creating "flours" made from local edibles.

We already buy 100% organic chestnuts from our neighbor who has 10-20 mature chestnut trees, (and recently planted 50 more chestnut seedlings). I grind the fresh chestnuts into a flour that is then stored in the freezer till needed.

Then, reading a book about wild edibles which tells how dried and ground pods from Honey Locust trees makes a high-protein flour, I decided to try making flour from Cherokee Trail of Tears bean pods. After all, legumes are legumes I figured.

Well, the experiment was a total success. Being an afficionado of flatbreads anyway, in particular sourdough, I made the first "local flour" out of a 50:50 mixture of chestnut flour and Cherokee Trail of Tears bean pod flour. The recipe is basically mix the flours together dry, then add enough water or other liquid to make a dough. I used whey from our yogurt making (which is often, and in multi-gallon quantities). You add enough water, milk, or whey to the flour to get dough of the consistency you prefer, then take "blobs", one at a time, and flatten them on a countertop that has been dusted with your "flour", rolling each one out, and lightly dusting each side with flour if needed. After all flour was made into flatbreads, I baked half of the flatbreads in a low oven--300 deg. F in toaster oven for about 15 minutes, but you may need to tweak the time and temperature for your own unique oven.

A favorite use of our new flatbread is an open-face grilled cheese sandwich. For one grilled cheese sandwich, place one flatbread in a (dry) small cast iron skilled, without oil or water, on medium heat. Place a slice of your favorite 100% organic cheese on the flatbread. Watch it carefully until you have discovered the perfect temperature where the cheese melts slowly, rather than melting fast and running all out into the skillet, which it will do at a very high temperature. A large cast iron skillet is great for making four or five open-face grilled cheese sandwiches at once.

We may experiment with a 40:60 mixture of these flours just to compare taste and texture. Also when the Honey Locust pods are falling, we will experiment with them as well.

Eat locally and experiment often!