About Ridgecut Gristmills

It was homesickness for the sight of corn that was behind the whole thing.  Actually, it was the comment, "I get nervous when I don’t see corn, because it’s a staple crop, so if it’s not growing something bad must be happening", that spurred this entire venture. Traditionally Yolo County was the number one corn growing county in the state and slowly the numbers of acres were decreasing. Many family farms were not continuing to farm. Much of this can be accounted to the change in the processing tomato industry which always took the title as the number one crop grown in the county. As the tomato industry streamlined, many growers were eliminated and with them, went the corn that was grown as part of their crop rotation program.

After graduating from Cal Poly, SLO with a degree in Agribusiness, Erin McGowan began looking for her niche in agriculture. With the local industry in a state of constant change, the question was always, "how can we make corn pay?"  It was from that question that Ridgecut Gristmills was born. The value added concept has become popular over the past ten years and Ridgecut included that concept in the planning. By using local corn, this reduces the transportation costs and then allows the grower to receive a premium for providing a high quality product. From that high quality corn, the stone ground corn meal is made into a just add water corn bread mix. This gives the consumer the option of homemade taste with the convience of just adding water.

Ridgecut Gristmills does not mill any grains containing gluten. This is to provide a gluten free milling surface and to eliminate contamination. Any stone ground whole wheat is milled by another mill. All gluten free products are mixed on separate days than products containing gluten.

Now, Ridgecut Gristmills offers several "just add water" mixes, Jimmy's Cracked Corn (grits/polenta), and various flours with new products being developed often.

Thanks for your interest in Ridgecut Gristmills.

You can contact us at:
ridgecutgristmills@yahoo.com or by phone at (530) 476-0774.

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