Moscow Food Co-op Supplier Profile

by Gary Chang, from the July 2001 newsletter

Eat more peas and lentils!

The Moscow Idaho Seed Company building is nestled near the University of Idaho and Paradise Creek on Eighth Street. Moscow Idaho Seed Company has been located there since Joe Ceb founded it in 1927. It was one of the first seed processing factories in the area. The original building still stands and is currently the front lobby, office, and part of the factory. Newer additions such as the warehouse have been built around the original building. Moscow Idaho Seed Company was passed on through Ceb’s family until 1985, when it was purchased by George F. Brocke and Sons, Inc., which is located nearby in Kendrick, Idaho. Today, Moscow Idaho Seed Company operates as a division of Brocke and Sons.

For this profile, I talked to Dell May and Brad Hordemann. Dell is the general manager and Brad is the factory foreman. Between them, they have 60 years of experience working at Moscow Idaho Seed. (Alas, both Dell and Brad declined to have their picture taken.)

Moscow Idaho Seed Company processes and warehouses dry green and yellow peas and small brown lentils for consumption, but not for planting. Peas and lentils are purchased from farmers and arrive at the factory already threshed (separated from the plant leaves, stems, and pods). Machines utilize gravity and vibrations to separate high quality seeds from foreign material and seeds that have been damaged by pea weevils, heat, or water in the field. In the case of peas, an additional splitting step takes place. The peas are steamed and then dried to loosen their skins a bit. Then the peas are put into a pea splitting machine, which basically hurls them against the wall of a box to split the seeds. After the seeds have been processed, they are packed into bags and stacked, where they wait to be loaded for distribution.

Peas and lentils from Moscow Idaho Seed Company are shipped around the world, both commercially and as part of United States government aid programs to other countries. Different countries favor different products. For example, small brown lentils are most popular in Spain. In the U.S., whole and split green peas are popular.

Some steps of the seed processing are still done with the original machinery from 1927. However, much of the warehousing has gotten easier. When Brad started working at Moscow Seed in 1968, sacks of processed seed were still filled and stitched by hand. The seed sacks, which could weigh over a hundred pounds, were moved with hand-trucks.

“Everyone had their own hand-truck and needle,” recalls Brad.

The sacks were manually stack-piled 22-bags high (“A lost art” according to Brad.). Back then, the workers had to stand on the beams in the warehouse to make the piles and take them down. Now, mechanical lifts and push plates have alleviated most of the back-breaking physical labor. One experienced person can do the same amount of work that formerly required at least five people.

The physical difficulties of the past have been replaced by today’s economic problems. Prices for peas and lentils have been decreasing for the past five or six years. Dell explains that the price drop has been due to domestic and international competition. In the 1980s, varieties of lentils and peas were developed that could grow well in places which previously had not grown those crops. Therefore, while the Palouse region was once the “Pea and Lentil Capital of the World,” now our area’s production is “just a drop in the bucket” compared to world-wide production.

On the other hand, Pullman still hosts the National Lentil Festival, and the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council is still headquartered in Moscow (on Highway 8, right on the Idaho-Washington border). Last year, the Pea and Lentil Council published The Pea & Lentil Cookbook. Their cookbook contains over 150 recipes using peas, lentils, and chickpeas, as well as nutrition and health information. Available for sale at the Co-op, it is an excellent resource for people who want to take Dell’s advice: "eat more peas and lentils."

Gary Chang likes eating peas and lentils, and hopes others will give peas a chance.

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes, and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op
and the respective authors, except were otherwise noted.

For additions or corrections to this page, please contact the Webmaster.