We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Peggy Sutton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Peggy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission for the last 20 years has been to educate the public about the importance of consuming organic sprouted grains, seeds, legumes, and nuts; and why it’s important to understand the truth in nutrition and make it a life-long goal.

My mission is very meaningful to me because I stumbled upon the time-honored tradition of all grains sprouted prior to the industrial revolution and how much more nutritious and digestible they were. To substantiate that claim I purchased some organic wheat berries, sprouted them in my kitchen, milled them into flour and baked a loaf of bread. I was astounded by the way my body recognized sprouted bread differently from unsprouted bread: it digested easily (no bloat), my body burned it quickly as energy (no lethargy from a carb-load), and the taste was phenomenal (no bitterness that is common with grains). I wanted everyone to try sprouted flour. And that’s how I began my mission to ensure everyone had an opportunity to enjoy sprouted grains, legumes, seeds, and nuts and why they should.

Peggy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m the daughter of a generational farmer. Our family has always lived off the land and gardening is still a passion of mine. My latest venture is a newly planted vineyard and fruit tree orchard. I’m also an avid home baker and fermenter.

My background is in marketing and I’ve worked in several industries over the last 45 years. In 2005 I had the opportunity to “take a year off” from an office job and that’s when I began my truth in nutrition research that led to the discovery of sprouted grains. My love for research and discovery has led my venture to become the country’s largest producer of organic sprouted products; from my kitchen and mason jar sprouting to a 48,000 sq. ft. facility with specialized machines that sprout about 2 million pounds of grains a year.

No matter how many customers we gain I have always made myself available to talk with and reply to individuals who have questions about using our sprouted products. Information and education about sprouted products is what I love to share. When I hear from the mother of an autistic child who let’s me know she used our sprouted flour to make cookies and her son did not have a bad reaction, or the ecstatic wife of a celiac husband who baked bread for the first time in 25 years for him and he loved it and had no adverse reaction, then it brings me back around to why I love what I do and my mission to make organic sprouted foods available to everyone who wants to consume them.

At To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co. our customers can rest assured that our products are truly sprouted, clean, certified organic and kosher. We do not take any shortcuts. Our flours are whole grain – nothing is removed or added. We also have a dedicated gluten-free facility for all our gluten-free products.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

As my “sprouted hobby” grew and began to be profitable, it became apparent that I needed a much larger production space with easy access for trucks to pickup and deliver. Sprouted grains had no yet become mainstream so funding for construction by a local bank or investor friends was not an option. My husband and I decided to take the plunge and fund our first building and equipment using some retirement funds. It was a risk that paid off handsomely. In less than 2 years we were already beginning construction on a second expansion. Our state commerce and economic development offices took notice and were instrumental in assisting us with abatements and grant programs to help our growth. Local banks competed to fund the construction and we have since added a third expansion.

My business is in Bullock County, Alabama, the third poorest county in our state. The job opportunity and economic growth for this area has been tremendous. I could have established my business in the middle of the grain belt, but choosing to stay in my area and make a difference in my own backyard has been a very gratifying experience and has not hindered the growth of my company in any way.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Seems like there are thousands of new products hitting the food industry market every day. Most of them are great ideas of someone who finds a manufacturer for their product. What I have done with my business is just not the norm in today’s business climate. I built my business, lock, stock, and barrel, from the ground up keeping 100% of production inhouse so I could control the quality of everything we produce and create jobs for my area.

I started sprouting in mason jars. As production increased, I had to get creative with how to sprout much larger amounts of grains at a time. There was no equipment on the market to do that. I graduated from mason jars to utility sinks and 5-gallon buckets, but when I got a call from a WFM regional bakery that ordered 10,000 pounds of sprouted flour at a time, it was time to find an engineer to specially design machines that could sprout about 2,000 lbs. at a time. I found a company in Tennessee that manufactured small sprouting machines to make broccoli sprouts and visited to find out if they could help me out. They could and we still use the first machine specifically designed for our application. Today we house lots of these machines in our sprouting room and the engineer has gone on to sell his grain-sprouting machines to other sprouters that emerged as the industry grew. I call that a winning strategy for everyone involved!

Contact Info:

• Website: healthyflour.com
• Instagram: @sproutedflour
• Facebook: To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co.
• Youtube: SproutedFlour