Buying and Storing Grains

In the past, you would have had to go to a health or natural foods store to buy these grains, but now you can find many of them at the supermarket. Arrowhead Mills and Bob’s Red Mill are two ­­com­­monly available brands. Grains—­­­es­­pecially whole ones—have oils that even­­tually turn rancid. Shop at stores where the turnover seems high, and buy only what you plan to use within a few months. If you have space, it’s best to re­frigerate grains, but you still can’t keep them forever. You can tell if they’ve lost their freshness by their smell—old grains, including flours, will have a stale odor.