DEMAND for stoneground spelt flour is on the rise following an investment in bespoke machinery by Scotland’s only producer of the product.

Former engineer John Sorrie, whose Westfield Farms business in Aberdeenshire supplies top-end restaurants, independent retailers and artisan bakers with the flour, designed and built bespoke equipment to remove the hull from the wholegrain, which is then ready to grind into flour at Golspie Mill, the only remaining traditional water-powered mill in mainland Scotland.

The Sorrie family launched Scotland’s first cold-pressed rapeseed oil under the Ola Oils brand in 2008 and decided to diversify into spelt production. Mr Sorrie was inspired to grow and produce the product due after seeing growing demand for speciality flours in the family’s retail business in Inverurie, The Green Grocer. It is impossible to mill without removing the hull.

The spelt, which won best new retail product at the 2017 North East Scotland Food and Drink awards, is higher in protein than wheat flour and lower in gluten. “It really has been nose to the grindstone,” said Mr Sorrie. “Designing and building the de-hulling machine was a challenge, but the investment now means it is the first of its kind in Scotland.”