Food thoughts

[bunn]

Expensive coffee beans bought online, or from a Special Coffee shop, seem to be sort of dry, sometimes almost a bit dusty-looking, sometimes even a little shrivelled.  But supermarket coffee beans are fat, round and near-black and rather beautifully shiny.  Do they wax or oil them to improve their appearance or storage abilities?  Are fat coffee beans cheaper than little wizened ones?

Why are wheat and oats and barley eaten only when ground or squashed, when other seeds are eaten whole?  Is ground seed less allergenic than whole seed, or is it that 'nut' is shorthand for 'a kind of seed that contains some particular allergenic Thing'?

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the shade of supermarket coffee that intrigues me, as the texture. What makes it so *shiny*?

I tend to prefer the lighter roasts too. I've had some Pact ones, I think, but often I forget to re-order and end up just grabbing a bag.