A Better Flour?

I want to recommend Eagle Mills All-Purpose Unbleached Flour to you. But I'm not sure if I can. If the mere fact that I have been using it and love it is enough, then there's your recommendation. I have been using it (I guess I'm on my 30th pound...) and I do love it. I don't know much else about it though.

I buy it at Costco, but I've never seen it anywhere else (haven't looked), so I don't know if the price is competitive, I'm just assuming it is.

I use it for everything -- pie crust, cookies, bread, muffins, whatevs. It bakes up just like white flour, except not icky. It seems to have the good properties of white flour, light, crisp, flavorful but not dominating, without the bland, pasty, whiteness of white flour.

According to its package, it's just about perfect:

• "All Natural"
• "Replaces Other All-Purpose Flours Cup For Cup"
• "Double the Fiber Of Other All-Purpose Flours"
• "9 Grams of Whole Grain Per Serving"
• "A Wholesome Blend of White and Ultragrain (r) Flours"

Uh-oh. That trademark symbol. That is not a good sign. At one time I searched the whole label and found something that reassured me about its content, but now I can't find it. Maybe I'd gone to the Eagle Mills website. I'll check and report back. But for now I'll just tell you that the ingredients say

"Ingredients: Unbleached Flour (Wheat Flour and Ultragrain (r) Whole Wheat Flour)."

Seems like it's gotta be GMO. Or something.

OK, here we are at at the Ultragrain Eagle Mills FAQ. All natural, all natural all natural. They're really touting the all-natural, cup-for-cup angle. Finally, way down the page:

"Is Ultragrain(r) genetically modified in any way? No, Ultragrain(r) is an all-natural, 100% whole grain product."

I don't know the law, but I think GMOs can be called all natural. They grow outta the ground after all. And being whole grain is not going to affect whether it is GMO or not, so the answer seems...can I use the word specious here? I'm gonna try it. Also, I don't know that GMOs are all bad. But, as we also don't know that they are all safe, I prefer to steer clear of them.

Anyway, as comforting as Ultragrain(r)'s "all natural" assurance may be, I also learn on this page that Ultragrain(r) is made by ConAgra Foods Inc. (sounds like the name of a recent movie, don't it dot dot dot). I have never known ConAgra to do anything for me that doesn't benefit them tenfold. And they are certainly willing to do do things that benefit them and do me no good at all. For instance these pies. This fairly neutral site gives a general sense of the nature of the company. The sense I get is that they aren't about the food. They're about the stockholders.

So, there you have it. I use this product, I like it, but I'm looking over my shoulder.