Is Rye becoming hard to get?
I had to order Rye from King Arthur Flour today because my local stores no longer carry it. I used to buy Arrowhead Mills organic Rye, but that seems hard to get. I can't find rye flour anywhere locally. Not even at Walmart. My local Publix used to carry it, but now they've replace it with Bulgur wheat. I talked to a worker and they checked their PDA. They no longer carry Rye flour. It seems very strange. Walmart has it on their website, but it's online only and other sellers. Amazon reviews state that they received old product, so it seems like Amazon isn't getting any new shipments either. I just hope the KA Rye gets here before I run out. My starter is almost ready to bake with and I didn't want to dry it out again just yet.
Anyone noticed this or maybe with any of your usual flours? I am in Florida by the way.
Our local
Natural Grocersoften has rye berries (maybe mill in a coffee grinder if you don't have a mill) and/or flour. Sprouts often does as well. Have you looked at Bob's Red Mill? Their website says they have it, and they may be able to help you find a local store that carries theirs.Edit, I just figured out Natural Grocers doesn't have any stores east of (about) the Mississippi. But perhaps another health food store near you carries something? Perhaps you already researched that avenue?
Good luck!
Mary
We have some health food stores in the next town over. Our local "health food" store is mostly just vitamins and other "health" stuff. I'm kind of afraid to go in there and get the snake oil salesman speech. I may have to get a mill if this keeps up. Luckily I was able to order some that was not Amazon. I don't trust Amazon (or Walmart online) for flours since so many people get it delivered with broken bags.
I'm in South Carolina and I can't find it either! I made some Russian black bread a few years ago and had some in my cabinet for a while. I remember getting rye flour at Publix or Kroger - I had order some online a few weeks ago. Now it seems like everywhere carries everything BUT rye. I thought it was just me!
Interesting. Wonder if it's some east coast or logistics thing. Or be a seasonal availability thing. Maybe a local bakery that makes rye bread on site would sell you some, or have more info?
Mary
It's not a seasonal item. My local Publix grocery store is switching brands. Replacing the Arrowhead mills with Bob's Red mill, but not going to get rye. Must be an East Coast thing if everywhere else has it. I did find it at King Arthur and ordered a bag from them. Our local bakery does not sell anything like that to consumers that I'm aware of. We only have this one bakery and they only do one kind of sourdough on Fridays and buy their starter (they don't make it themselves). I will ask them about their rye shipments when I go in next. It would be interesting to know if they are having trouble getting it too.
I have the same problem. There are 2 Publix stores near me in Brevard County, Florida. Last year both of them stopped carrying rye flour and organic bread flour. I complained to Publix a few times, but with no results. I've been having to buy those flours online, at a much increased cost over retail.
Instead of selling these basic flours, Publix sells a lot of specialty stuff. The last time I looked, there were 4 different brands of almond flour on the shelf, and 3 brands of coconut flour. An entire shelf is devoted to bread crumbs, at least 10 different brands! Yet something as basic as rye flour is missing.
There are also a Winn-Dixie and Fresh Market nearby, but they do not carry those items either. Neither does a local health food store.
I live in Washington state and I buy BRM from Chef's Store. This store has rapidly undergone new owners. Originally Cash & Carry; then Smart food Service and now Chef's Store. In running the store locator I notice some stores in South Carolina.
Here is a link to U.S. Foods/Chef's Store with a map of locations. 3 in SC and 1 in NC.
https://www.usfoods.com/why-us-foods/chef-store.html#filterSimpleTags=us-foods:location-types/chef-store
Can't speak to elsewhere, but here in Memphis TN rye flour is virtually impossible to purchase locally. Supermarkets simply don't have it, and Amazon prices are double that of retail. NYBakers website is my current go-to, and they sell quite a variety of it.
Wow. I guess it's not just me then. This was a bad time to revive my starter I guess. Can you get everything else normally though? I wonder if I should just buy a big freezer and get the big bags while I can (joking obviously).
NYBakers Rye Flours
Take a look here. Scroll down the page - they carry quite a variety of light, dark, and medium rye flour.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/AEB2E9A9-E21F-443A-AD11-EAAB12C37128?ingress=2&visitId=77da2f5b-4d0b-4ff1-ba18-6c8aa4d21db6&ref_=ast_bln
They only sell through Amazon. I bought a 25# bag but they also sell in packs of much smaller bags. I used to buy from Hodgeson Mill, no longer available, but this is a fine replacement.
FWIW, I was just looking at these same products on the Walmart app (for shipping, not in store). I didn't make a note of the prices, so have no clue about that comparison. But Wmart says you can return it to your local store within 30 days, if there are any issues.
Mary
This has been an issue for a few years now. Look at the bright side though - Walmart now carries several kinds of almond flour, and also hemp, chia, beetroot, cashew, baobab and every other kind of GF crap.
My closest supermarket actually stocks both KA and BRM rye flours, but it's cheaper to buy a 25# bag from Amazon every once in a while.
There are other online vendors in the eastern half of the country. I have ordered rye flour from Country Life Natural Foods (Michigan) and rye chops from Janie's Mill (Illinois). CLNF also has rye flakes and sprouted rye flour; Jainie's Mill also has whole and light rye. There is also Breadtopia (Iowa), Castle Valley Mill (Pennsylvania), and Carolina Ground, Anson Mills, Crooked Creek Mills, and Lindley Mills in the Carolinas. As mentioned by a previous member, NY Rye Bakers is a good source for all things rye. I ordered several flours/meals from there a couple months ago.
I was recently pleasantly surprised that our local mega-grocery store began carrying King Arthur Organic Rye in addition to Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye flour. I'm sorry to hear that your local store no longer carries rye flour.
The rye that i normally get I no longer can get it anymore. Been like that since Covid started! I looked ALL over the internet. I used to be able to buy 5 lbs, stone ground Rye locally, now can't find it on the internet unless I choose a different brand and that isn't what I want
Does this site help? We have tons of bulk food stores in Toronto. It seems to be called "zero waste" down south?
https://www.litterless.com/wheretoshop
https://practicalfarmers.org/research/cereal-rye-variety-trial-2021/
46 page report: (rye pp. 44,45,46 )
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/grain.pdf
In the old days, like a few years ago, I had no trouble buying Hodson's Mill rye flour in 5 lb. bags. The only problem was that it did not sell well and the paper bags sat on the shelf and sometimes were infested with weevils. I was paying between 80 cents and one dollar per pound, as I recall. My first solution was to go to the Mom's Organic store and buy rye berries that I ground myself. This was a good solution for a long time but then the price jumped to 3 dollars a pound and it cost much more than the flour itself.
I started to look for more cost effective solutions than $3 per pound. I didn't mind buying the flour itself or the berries. Unfortunately Hodson's Mill has been sold to a new owner and the stores don't have their rye flour anymore. My first solutions were either to buy 20 oz. packages of Arrowhead Mills rye flour, which cost around $2.80 per lb. or a Russian import that cost $1.35 per lb. The Russian import had two drawbacks. It is not entirely whole grain, but called "obdirnaya," which seems to be between medium and whole grain rye flour. Secondly, the stocks will probably run out soon, due to the Russia-Ukraine war. For the time being, $1.35 per pound is cost effective.
A newer solution is the Hodson Mills website. I managed to buy a 5 lb. bag of whole rye flour there several months ago with two pleasant surprises: they offered a free shipping coupon, so I paid only one dollar per lb. Secondly, they stopped using the paper bags that used to have insects and now used sealed plastic. After I finished my 5 lbs. they were out of the rye flour for a long time but just about a week ago I tried again and place an order there. The shipping cost was high but I tested the price of different order sizes and found that you pay $10 for shipping for either 1, 2, or 3 fiive-pound bags. So, i ordered 3 bags (15 pounds) and got a 15% coupon. The total cost with shipping ran to $1.50 per pound. I'm still waiting to hear that my order shipped. They say that shipments are backed up 5 days but the cost looks like my best alternative at this point, unless Hodgson's starts selling their product in local supermarkets.
I think you are right. While I haven't been shopping for whole rye flour recently, that's only because I bought berries in bulk when KAF's price for Organic Pumpernickel got too high for me. Shortly after I bought the berries, I noticed that KAF was out of stock on Organic Pumpernickel and, as of this writing, they still show the product as out of stock. I ordered a 40# bucket from Pleasant Hill Grain some months ago. Out of curiosity, I just checked the PHG site to see if prices have increased and found that they are out of rye berries. The following notice appears on their product page for rye berries:
"Our grain sources are telling us they can’t quote pricing for future shipments now, because they expect costs to rise. Grain pricing is global. We do NOT source grain from either Ukraine or Russia, but those two countries produce a huge portion of the world’s wheat and other small grains. For multiple reasons, movement of that grain to Western markets seems certain to be restricted in the future, and that will cause world grain prices to continue to rise. Many types of grain have already been harder than usual to source. In addition, crop production costs are up sharply, led by fertilizer costs, which are skyrocketing. Between the geopolitical outlook and exploding inflation, we expect grain prices to rise rapidly, and scarcity is likely. As inflation drives general prices higher, spending on nonessentials will be reallocated to essentials, making those prices rise disproportionately. We’ll be surprised if today’s food prices don’t soon look extremely low."
I recently bought 3 5-lb. bags of whole rye flour on the Hodgson Mill website. It was a somewhat strange and frustrating experience.
The website quickly gave me a UPS tracking number but the UPS website continued to say that a label was created but no merchandise was received. I had to call their phone number many, many times to get an actual person on the phone. When I did, I told them that UPS is stuck on only a label received for over a week. The guy said he'd try to get my package to UPS as soon as possible. After several more days and no action, I had to call again. This time they did actually get the package to UPS and it was delivered. It was OK except for the fact that one bag had a little hole and a few ounces of rye flour were all over the interior of the box. At least I had the shipment, minus an ounce or two.
Just a few days ago I got another notice from UPS that a package with the same contents and tracking number was on the way to my address! Apparently, my original purchase was misplaced and that's why it took so much effort for them to make up another package. But then, I surmise, the original lost package was found with its label and sent to UPS. I.e. duplicate shipment. I tried to call them and tell them what happened but after dialing many dozens of times with only recorded messages, I gave up. I have no other choice but to get the second identical shipment, due later today.
I'd really prefer not to buy anything this way! Too bad rye flour is not sold in local supermarkets. A local Russian store has medium rye (obdirnaya), minus the rye germ, but the war may mean they'll soon be out of stock. I may explore German import stores. The Hodson Mill website (AKA Hudson River Foods) is decent flour but a very deficient operation!
might be another low cost option for you, if they deliver to your state:
https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/food/grains/rye/whole-berries/rye-grain-organic/10540
Yippee
I wrote above about how Hodgson MIll was very late with my original shipment and that I had to make several phone calls and write emails to get the flour I ordered. Well, my original 15 lbs. was delivered last week. And today it looked like I was going to get another 15 lb. box by mistake as a duplicate shipment. But, they shipped me FOUR more 15 lb. boxes by mistake. Now I received 75 lbs. of rye flour instead of the 15 lbs. I ordered! What a flawed system, unbelievable.
If I keep what I received, it may turn out to be a lifetime supply. I should only live so long.
😄😄😄
Yippee