We, at www.jacobbromwell.com, know you’ll love our secret way of going way back in time, back to a life when our country was in its infancy, far away from British rule. How, you ask, can you possibly experience life almost 200 years ago as though you are living it?? Well, all you have to do is find a comfortable, quiet place to relax as you prepare to jump aboard our’ time machine’ by seeing life unfold as you read ahead. Ready, set, go…

Life was rugged and such innovations as the Deluxe Flour Sifter of the past quickly became a wildly popular item. It worked best amongst those who loved making breads, muffins, or Johnny cakes. Word of the existence of our Deluxe Flour Sifter spread like ‘flour stirring in the winds’ throughout the Wild West, and beyond, to unchartered territory explored by such pioneers as Lewis & Clark on their famous expeditions. Consider yourself amongst the chosen few who will know what it was like in the old fashioned days when an American-made flour sifter was designed to conveniently prepare your favorite pastries. Hence, it quickly became a ‘must’ for every cook who had a taste for bread and all sorts of goodies. This one-of-a-kind, copper flour sifter was a staple for every meal. Now that you’re comfortable, allow me to guide you on this adventure as we travel back in time, copper flour sifter ‘in hand’…

Way back in 1819, nearly 200 years ago, Jacob Bromwell, inventor, was the only pioneer of his day known to vastly improve upon the design of the Deluxe Flour Sifter, the unique flour sifter of its day. Our Deluxe Flour Sifter has been known to be a reliable ‘friend’ to the pastry chef much like our Great American Flask was entrusted as a means of staying warm on those bone-chilling nights. Back in the olden days when our country was young and the west was being pioneered, Jacob Bromwell somehow knew his Deluxe Flour Sifter would become the ‘talk of the town’.

To really appreciate our Deluxe Flour Sifter is to appreciate its history. So, for all you history buffs out there, we believe it is important to understand flour to understand the flour sifter’s past…

Wheat, from which flour is made, was discovered around 9,000 BCE. It was known, perhaps through trial and error, that such seeds could be crushed between small grindstones to make flour, a very basic form of flour sifting. The Romans were known to be the first to grind seeds on cone mills which was perhaps the first flour sifter.

Such basic flour sifters eventually led to the invention of the grist mills. These mills were constructed in the early part of the 17th century to grind corn and wheat to make flour for the early English settlers of coastal areas. Incidentally, corn is the English word for grain for you language buffs out there. Specifically, a mill is a machine, or huge flour sifter that grinds wheat, rye, oats, and/or barley into flour and meal. The common American word, corn, was called maize by the English and Puritan settlers. In America, the English use of the word, corn, did not change until the War of 1812, when United States’ citizens wanted to separate themselves from England. Just imagine…this war took place only seven years before Jacob Bromwell invented his long-lasting, ‘signature’ version of the flour sifter!

During the early part of the 18th century, what was known as soft wheat or English wheat was grown and milled. Wheat was sifted by industrial flour sifters, made into white flour. In sifting, the middlings, an old fashioned word for cereal, and bran were removed. The middlings was also called ships stuff or red dog, which was used to make biscuits. Red dog was named after a New England Native American by the name of Red Dog. He made a deal with a New England miller in trade for all of the middlings the miller could supply his tribe. Whole wheat requires that the bran be sifted out by a makeshift flour sifter. This sifter came into existence in the mid-1800’s with the popularity of Sylvester Graham’s Graham Flour. Around the time the Pilgrims were building the Plymouth Plantation, a patent was issued in Great Britain for the making of woven wire cloth. A century later, John Milne, a Scotsman, invented a sifting reel that rotated instead of being shaken. It is known that after the first half of the 1700s, most mills operated their flour sifter machinery by water power rather than being hand sifted. Having carefully reviewing the history of these inventions, Bromwell cleverly invented his very own version of a flour sifter around 1820. His designer sifter is known, to this day, as the most convenient, lightweight, and reliable sifter of its kind. No other sifters can compete with Bromwell’s design…no one!

Wheat was grown in New England mostly along the coastal areas. It was a more promising crop in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland as well as Delaware and Virginia where the climate was just right. After the Civil War, the wheat-growing areas shifted to the Midwest. The Mennonites, immigrants who escaped from the Ukraine in Europe due to their inability to practice their religion openly and freely, brought wheat. Places like Minnesota, the largest in the world, became one huge milling industry during that period in history. Many early water wheels were enclosed inside buildings or under a roof for protection from winter’s snow and ice. The photo below is of the Lee Mill, Stratford Hall, Virginia. The Fitz Water Wheel Company claimed that this was its best and most accurate mill restoration.

We, at www.jacobbromwell.com, hope you enjoyed your journey as much as we wrote it…and just for you. We would love to hear from you!