On Food and Cooking

and oils to feed the embryo. Each part
influences the texture and flavor of the cooked
seeds.
The outer protective coat, called the bran
in grains and the seed coat in legumes and
nuts, is a dense sheet of tough, fibrous tissue.
It’s rich in defensive or camouflaging
phenolic compounds, including anthocyanin
pigments and astringent tannins. And it slows
the passage of water into grains and legumes
during cooking. It’s often removed from
grains (especially rice and barley), legumes
(notably in Indian dals), and nuts (almonds,
chestnuts) to speed the cooking and obtain a
more refined appearance, texture, and flavor.
The embryonic portion of legumes and
nuts is not of much practical significance, but
the germ of the grains is: it contains much of
the oil and enzymes in these seeds, and thus is
the source of potential flavor, both desirable
cooked aromas and undesirable stale ones.
The bulk of the seed is a mass of storage