About 32,000 years ago, it was thought that humans made flour from wheat for the first time using homemade tools as well as combination pestles and grinders.

In today’s world one can step into a store and pick up one or all of the most popular flours: Unbleached, Refined, Bleached, All-Purpose (the most widely used), Self-Rising or Enriched.

Who brought flour to America?

Indigenous people had ground corn and other substances into flour for cornbread and mush. European settlers in the Lawrence River area in the 16th century brought with them their technology of flour milling. Jamestown colonists introduced both wind-powered gristmills and water-powdered gristmills. In the late 18th century, merchant milling blossomed in Virginia. Before the advent of these mills, colonists had to grind their grains by hand using a mortar and a pestle or a quern (two round stones on top of one another).

Tips for storing flour

Keep flour (out of the bag) in an airtight container in a dry a...