Kansas Couple Makes Sweets Out Of Wheat

Kansas Couple Makes Sweets Out Of Wheat AG WORLD Ag World 21-3-20 A Southwestern Kansas farm couple is doing a booming business adding value to their wheat crop. Shirley and Dave Voran operate "The Kansas Wheat House" at Cimmaron, Kan., which makes and markets a wide assortment of tasty snack foods and sweet treats containing wheat. The business started up in 1986, thanks to the Vorans' conviction that their crop should be sold as a finished product rather than a raw commodity. Now, 11 years and over 70 products later, the Wheat House sells about 400 bu. of the Vorans' 1,000-acre wheat crop every year, and the amount continues to grow. The Vorans sell their products all over the world by mail order. They attribute their success to the public's appetite for healthy snacks and the company's attention to personal detail and customer service. "If someone asks for something we don't have, we go ahead and make it," notes Shirley. "For example, a Cimmaron-area pork producer early this year came to us looking for something unique to give his customers. We created the æPorker,' a hog-shaped peanut butter-based candy containing wheat nubs, soy nuts and sunflower seeds." More standard fare includes crunchy wheat nubs (cooked, processed and seasoned kernels) in a variety of flavors, from Cajun to Mesquite and honey roasted to chocolate. Also, soup and bread mixes. There are candies such as S'Wheat Chows (wheat, rice, cereal, peanut butter and chocolate), S'Wheat Dreams (marsh-mallows, wheat and almond bark) and S'Wheat Hearts (wheat nub and wheat germ dipped in chocolate and shaped like a heart). The most popular product is trail mix that's a lot like granola except with a lot of wheat. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, The Kansas Wheat House Inc., 102 S. Main, P.O. Box 1051, Cimmaron, Kan. 67835-1051 (ph 800 261-6251 or 316 855-7718, fax 2216; Email: kswheat@kansasgrown.com, http:// www.kansasgrown.com/kswheat/).

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