Foggy Mountain Milling

At Foggy Mountain, we believe that every step of the pasta-making process is vital in crafting extraordinary flavors. That's why start with heritage grains grown by local farmers, carefully chosen for their unique profiles that embody the essence of our region. We prioritize farm partners who embrace organic and sustainable practices, resulting in products that are not only healthier for the soil but also for you and your loved ones.

Join us on a journey through the art of milling and discover how it shapes the soul of our business. From loading the wheat berries into the mill to the final extrusion of our pasta, we unveil the meticulous process that ensures the finest quality and distinctive character of Foggy Mountain Pasta.

Close up of hand holding wheat berries before milling them into flour.

In simple terms, milling takes whole wheat berries and grinds them against stone until the wheat is crushed into small, fine particles.

To give our flours and pasta unique flavor profiles that reflect the essence of the region, we start with heritage and other sustainably grown grains provided by local farmers.

We choose farm partners who are committed to organic and sustainable practices. This is not only healthier for the soil, it also creates products that are healthier for you and your family.

Image of Gabriel Key loading wheat berries into the mill to start grinding them into flour.

Once wheat berries are loaded into the mill, they slowly travel down a funnel between the millstones. The millstones are positioned to make just enough contact with the grain to grind our flours while still preserving much of the minerals, oils, and other natural benefits of the wheat. All this is done while maintaining a low temperature. 

Each variety of grain is ground to our desired specifications using a combination of variables: the speed of the grain going through the mill, the speed that the mill stone turns, and how closely we set the milling stones.

As the grain is ground between the two milling stones, it transforms from wheat berries into ground flour. It then travels into the sifting chamber to the left of the mill.

A combination of gentle air pressure, the texture of the millstones, and centripetal force gently push the grains out of the stones and through a series of 3 sifting screens, allowing us to control how much or little of each grain becomes flour or bran.

This image shows just how fine that mesh can get.

Bran is kind of like the husk of the grain. It has great flavor and nutritional properties, but it can also be very fibrous and can get in the way of some recipes or applications.

A coarser grind leaves a lot of bran in the flour. Having the milling process in-house allows us to have complete control over the density and flavor of the flour we use in our products.

Images shows a commercial pasta machine extruding girelle pasta. A pile of pasta is in the foreground.

We always work to make sure we have as much of the “whole grain” go into our flour because this is what gives the pasta such great flavor and texture.

When you try our flours, you can actually taste the bran and whole grain. That is what gives Foggy Mountain Pasta its unique color and flavor. Our ability to customize each step of our process allows us to make flours suitable for anything from pasta to bread and more!