Travel on the Gravel

Tomorrow I hit the road for Brandon, Manitoba, to give a talk on Wednesday to the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association. What do I know about zero tillage? Not much, I guess I'll learn some things. I'll be there to talk about "The Promise of Life on the North American Plains." (I only know about a few things, so I have to keep talking about them.)

Recently I received a message from a fellow who had read a Plains Folk column about Cream of Wheat. He writes, "Saw your article on the origin of Cream of Wheat and appreciated it. My wife has GastroParesis and can eat few cereals. No whole grain, etc. Cream of Wheat was recommended and served to her in the hospital. It was white! I have been trying all the types on the grocers shelves, and cannot find any WHITE cream of wheat. It all has "Farina" in it, small flecks of tan substance which looks like wheat bran. We are in our '80's, so we all remember white cream of wheat. I have written Kraft asking about the availability of the original cream of wheat, and all I can get from them is a canned response telling me where to buy cream of wheat. What do you know about current day Cream of Wheat? Is the original white cereal still available?"

I thought I might have an answer. At home I have a box of Cream of Wheat, but also a bag of Swany White Farina purchased from a specialty food store. Clearly, my correspondent must be right about earlier versions of Cream of Wheat being pure white. That was emphasized in advertising. This bag of Swany White features artwork of a girl in a white frock feeding a pair of white swans. White was a big thing in the past. I opened my bag of Swany White, and it, too, has the tan particles in it.

I don't think the word "farina," however, refers specifically to the tan particles in modern Cream of Wheat. I think that is a more generic word; Cream of Wheat is farina.

So maybe there is a reader who can sort this out, and perhaps even one who knows of a source of old-fashioned white farina for my correspondent.