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What a Malaysian durum tastes like
Durum is not supposed to grow here. Two hectares in Cameron Highlands disagree, and we have been cooking the result since March.
The trial plot is small, the yield is poor, and the price per kilo is roughly four times what Altamura costs us landed. None of that is the interesting part.
The interesting part is that it tastes green. There is a grassiness in the finish that the Italian grain does not have, and it survives being cooked, which almost nothing does.
We are not switching. We are blending it at fifteen per cent into the cavatelli dough on Fridays and saying nothing about it on the menu, and we would like to know whether anyone notices before we do.