
By Shannon Hazlitt Harts
February 16 is a day to celebrate a fluffy, buttery dish made with a few simple ingredients: It’s National Pancake Day! The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday or Madi Gras. Pancakes became a popular meal to make to use up dairy products before the start of Lent when many give up richer foods following Christian tradition.
So our featured Made in the FLX product is New Hope Mills Buttermilk Pancake Mix, made right at a manufacturing facility in Auburn. The mix is a bestseller for New Hope Mills. It’s made with real sweet cream and first grade, unbleached and unenriched flour—to make mouthwatering pancakes, you only need to add water!
New Hope Mills has a rich history that extends back to the 1800s. Although the mill that helped it get its start is still in existence, it no longer produces flour, according to New Hope Mills’ website. However, New Hope Mill still operates in many of the same ways it did in the 1800s, and the mill is being preserved with the aim of one day being an operational museum.
Today New Hope Mills has both a manufacturing facility and a store and cafe in Auburn. As you can probably guess, the cafe is famous for its pancakes, however, it has many other menu items including a French onion soup with New Hope Mills’ Buttermilk croutons, a breakfast sandwich and brunch burger with New Hope Mills Buttermilk pancake buns, and a Southern breakfast burrito with a tortilla created with New Hope Mills Crepe mix.
To make appetizing buttermilk pancakes, waffles, and a variety of other baked treats from the comfort of your home, you can find New Hope Mills products at a variety of major grocery store chains in the Finger Lakes. These include Wegmans, Tops and Walmart. You can also find these products at country/Amish-style stores throughout the United States! (It’s recommended to check online or call ahead before visiting).
To learn more visit newhopemills.com.
Made in the FLX is a weekly column highlighting the small-scale food producers of the Finger Lakes. Each week we will feature a locally made food product that is distributed widely throughout the region and beyond, showcasing the strength and quality of our local resources. If there is a Finger Lakes-made product that you’d like to see featured, please email shannon@ediblefingerlakes.com.