Michigan State University researchers and a distillery could resurrect an old rye variety from seeds discovered in the depths of Lake Huron.
In 1887, the wooden schooner James R. Bentley was headed to New York by way of Chicago with a large load of rye. The schooner encountered rough seas and struck a shoal in Lake Huron.
The crew tried to save the James R. Bentley but failed. They were eventually rescued as the schooner was lost to the depths.
This year, about 146 years after the sinking, a crew of six people traveled from Cheboygan five miles out into Lake Huron.
Divers went down to the wreck with a specially made tube to extract a substantial number of seeds from the Bentley. With the seeds on ice, the crew was on a time crunch to get the seeds back to shore.
Owner Chad Munger of Central Lake-based Mammoth Distilling was waiting with a van and rushed the seeds to Michigan State University about three hours away.
Once they made it to the lab…a researcher found that the structure of the seeds were preserved by the cold water and low oxygen environment.
However, they were no longer viable due to its lengthy time in the waters of Lake Huron.
Now researchers are extracting DNA from the seeds in an effort to revive the old rye with some modern rye varieties.
If successful, this historic rye could become a new variety made right here in Michigan. The state was once one of the largest rye-producers in the country. But farmers stopped in 1970.
It just wasn’t making money.
MSU and Mammoth Distilling want to reconnect to that history and envision this as Michigan’s Rye Trail, much like the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
They say it could help farmers and create a market for Michigan rye across the country.
