My family loves warm banana nut muffins with blueberries, like the ones I made today and with self rising flour they come together in no time. These muffins used up the last of the plain white self rising flour bought for making quick breakfast breads over the busy holiday period. I really enjoy the convenience of having the baking powder and salt already added to my recipes, not having to pull out the measuring spoons seems to make baking exponentially easier.
But I can’t find an organic version in the stores and worry about the risk of herbicides and pesticides in flour today. I recently heard from a friend that non-organic farmers were spraying herbicides on their wheat crops to dry it out uniformly just before harvest. Wow, that was shocking so I had to do some research on the subject. I wish I could say it wasn’t true, but all I can say is the on-line information is contradictory and confusing. I’m sharing the link to a Snopes article which dispels part of the story as an exaggeration but states it is a practice some farmers use and the practice is not illegal or banned.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wheat-toxic/
There are other articles defending non organic farmers which say that weed killers such as Roundup being sprayed on wheat before harvest is not routine and that only small amounts are applied.
https://texaswheat.org/glyphosate-treated-wheat-claims-vs-facts/
I feel for the farmers today, from the little I know about their situation it’s a hard way of life without much in monetary rewards. The information about the risks of using a herbicide like glyphosate is muddled and the task of feeding their world is large. However, for myself even a rare case of herbicide in my flour is a problem. So for some good news finally, at Safeway the cost of generic organic flour is only about 30 cents more a pound and you can make a self rising mix yourself for those early morning biscuits (ironically it will probably be the butter that kills me).
To make your own self rising flour, in a large bowl (make it large or the flour can scatter when stirred ) mix very well 4 cups of flour, 6 teaspoons of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of salt. Store in an air tight container and remember the effectiveness of baking soda will decrease if not used within a couple of months or stored in the freezer. I made my batch with half organic whole wheat flour and half organic all purpose flout. I’ll let you know how my biscuits and pancakes turn out. Please let me know your results if you have tried a homemade flour mix. As always thanks for stopping by my site.
Be encouranged! 