thousand years cooks have made “milks” from
almonds, soybeans, and other oil-rich seeds
(pp. 494, 504).
Seed Flavors
The most important contributors to the flavors
of grains, legumes, and nuts are fragments of
the unsaturated fatty acids in the oils and cell
membranes, which have individual aromas
described as green, fatty, oily, floral, and
mushroomy. The outer bran layer grains
contains the bulk of the seed’s oils and
enzymes, and so gives whole grains a stronger
flavor, as well as contributing some vanilla
and toasted notes from its phenolic
compounds. Beans are especially rich in green
and mushroom notes. Nuts, which are usually
cooked with dry heat, contain products of the
browning reactions with typical roasted
aromas. The flavors of particular seeds are
described below.