Clawing my way towards natural foods...

[anangelscreams]

Today I bought some of Bob's Red Mill Golden Couscous.

I had never made Couscous and didn't know much about it, but I made it successfully and it was absolutely wonderful.

Upon research (obviously I don't always do it beforehand, as I should), I am finding that most Couscous sold in the U.S. is par-cooked, and therefore can be construed as "

Comments

[limelight_lude]

I don't understand exactly what your concern is. (There's no way to word that previous sentence without sounding like I'm being downgrading or condescending.) Is it in the methods of par-cooking or the par-cooking itself interfering with naturalness of it? Just to let you know, Wikipedia: "Par-cooking refers to the technique of partially cooking foods so that they can be finished later. There are two primary reasons for using this technique. First, it allows foods to be prepared ahead of time, and quickly heated prior to serving. Since the second reheat finishes the cooking process, foods are not overcooked as leftovers often are. This is a common technique in the processed food industry, and most frozen and prepared foods are par-cooked.

A second reason is to take advantage of different cooking techniques."

I'm confused, promise, to the above. It's just not easy to phrase! :)

[anangelscreams]

I guess simply put, I am asking if par-cooking it reduces it's integrity as a whole food, the way instant oats are not as nutritious as steel cut oats.

I hope it keeps most of its integrity because I sure as hell don't want to do what it takes to prepare it traditionally... but would.

[limelight_lude]

Cooking at all reduces the integrity of most foods. That's why the raw movement is so good for you (though I don't eat raw 100%). :/

If you're going to eat couscous, I feel like par-cooking it is just as healthy as you'd have cooked traditionally.

[injectionfairy]

I have no advice to offer (any more advanced than what you probably already know, considering your post) but I have to agree with you on the steel cut oats... FAVE!! =) I've never heard a bad thing about Bob's Red Mill and it's one I buy often because it's readily available, inexpensive, and the ingredients are what I'm looking for.

[myskat]

I'm very confused as couscous is a pasta, meaning it is preformed ground grains. it is not a "whole grain" food in the sense that it is a whole grain simply that the whole grain of wheat can be ground to make the flour that comprises it. I guess if you were to make the pasta yourself...

[anangelscreams]

I am just learning, so that is why I ask.

[stellamaris]

It's just pasta. What are you concerned about exactly? It's made from wheat flour. I'm pretty sure par cooking it has zero effect on the nutrient quality. Most couscous isn't even made from whole wheat!

[anangelscreams]

That's exactly what I was wondering, if the par-cooking had an effect on the nutrient quality. I am starting to feel that it doesn't.

The brand I have is made from Durum wheat, which I'm not sure is considered "whole wheat" or not. In this day and age, just starting out, it's a very confusing thing to sift through, especially with everyone wanting to make you think something is whole wheat, and mostly they seem to be full of crap.

My family is moving towards "real foods", pastured chicken, grass-fed cattle, full fat milk, and mostly local fruits and vegetables. It's confusing to start out with but I think we'll get the hang of it eventually. But I think to some extent we'll always have to rely on the supermarket, or at least until I really get a handle on how to get food regularly from farmers.

[urban_homestead]

Durum wheat is a kind of wheat that is very high in protein. You can get whole-grain durum wheat pasta, but usually it's been refined into white flour before being turned into pasta. Even so, durum wheat pasta is lower in starch and sugar than other kinds of foods made from refined flour just because the nutritional profile of that kind of wheat grains is better. With some kinds of wheat, the refining process takes out everything *but* sugars and starches, but with durum wheat, there's still plenty of protein left at the end.

Incidentally, whole-wheat couscous is delicious and worth looking for. However it does go rancid quickly because whole wheat is higher in fats which can spoil

[blueyz72]

Steel cut oats are great, and I love them in the colder months.

Have you ever tried quinoa? It's healthy and I like better than couscous.

[mystiaunknown]

I wholeheartedly second the quinoa suggestion. I dislike couscous but I love quinoa a lot! After I tried couscous and it was so-so, I then tried quinoa, the quinoa was so much better than the couscous that I just started hating couscous, LOL.

Just make sure you rinse the quinoa REALLY well, like scrub it and rinse it a lot. If you don't, it might taste bitter!

[silkfetus]

quinoa thirded. way better than couscous imo. there are different varieties as well although i have only tried one so far.