They make Flour out of all sorts of things these days – Quinoa, Soy Beans, Almonds, you name it. Many of these variants of the usual Wheat or Corn or Rice flours are gluten-free – a bonus for the gluten-intolerant. But now, the Flour Frontier has been pushed out even farther … into the unknown…
Chef Jason Wilson, James Beard Award winner and Head Chef at trendy
Seattle fine dining establishment Crush. He’s been recruited to enhance
to the élan of Coffee Flour among foodies…
You’d never guess in a million years, probably, so I’ll just tell you. A company in Vancouver is making Flour from Coffee Bean husks. Well, not exactly the husks. They’re taking the pulpy substance left over after the Coffee Bean has been extracted from the Coffee Berry, drying it and grinding it to a powder. It’s brown in colour and actually resembles Cocoa. Doesn’t taste or act like it, though…
Just for the record it’s one of the gluten-free ones. So, no Bread without blending it. But lots and lots of cookies, cakes and pie crusts and things!
But why?
But I just gotta ask… Why another specialty Flour? The gluten-intolerant already have lots of alternatives available.
While the entrepreneurs behind Coffee Flour are touring it bigtime as an ecoIogically and socially responsible producy, I predict this product will have a certain life expectancy as a novelty ingredient but will never achieve ‘staple’ status, even in the kitchens of the Gluten-intolerant. One reason for this is, it will have little appeal to the wider cooking and eating sudience. Another reason is, it will undoubtedly be priced well above other, more common Gluten-free Flours. And another is, it will only be available in limited outlets in limited quantities, as best. Like many, many other novelty products.
May I remind you of the (in)famous Kopi Luak Coffee from Madagascar? It was all the rage as a rare, novelty beverage in the early 2000s. Coffee berries are eaten by some sort of marsupial cat and shelled in digestion. Coffee beans are eventually pooped out ready to wash, dry, roast and grind. It’s revered as the world’s moist expensive Coffee. But, the novelty factor aside, is it worth it?
You’d have to be the judge. just like with Coffee Flour.
~ Maggie J.