I’m willing to bet that most casual bakers don’t spend much time thinking about flour. A couple of years ago, even Eater’s Dayna Evans, a not at all casual baker, admitted that she didn’t actually know that much about flour. That realization sent her down the powdered path toward understanding the most fundamental of baking ingredients — where it comes from, how it’s made, and the world of local and small-batch millers creating flours utterly distinct from the ones at the grocery store. She chronicled it all for a story on Eater.

If, after reading it, you’re inspired to start baking with whole grains, you can buy a bag from Castle Valley Mill, the Pennsylvania-based operation that served as Evans’s own entree into small-batch flours. But she also recommends heading to the Whole Grains Council website to see what’s available near you.

A Soul Phoodie T-shirt, Magnolia Bakery's chocolate-covered strawberry pudding, GIR's new quad chopper, and a Turkey and the Wolf grinder.

Speaking of grains, Patagonia Provisions’ newest product is a pasta made with eco-friendly Kernza, a perennial grain harvested from wheatgrass. It’s combined with semolina in the fusilli for texture, and New York Magazine food critics Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld give it a positive review.
D.S. & Durga has solidified the pistachio’s continuing role as the hottest nut around with a pistachio perfume. See the fragrance notes: it's pistachio nine times over. The 100 limited-edition bottles sold out pretty immediately, but the pistachio’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down, so maybe they’ll bring it back.
Another tangentially food-related thing that is probably already sold out: Telfar is calling the deep pink shade of its latest drop “corned beef.” The bags, along with a corned beef belt and hat, went on sale Friday.
You can no longer buy the Turkey and the Wolf tee that commemorated Mason Hereford’s cookbook falling into the sea (it, like many things this week, sold out in days) but let this be a reminder that the New Orleans sandwich shop has some fun merch. These grinders were recently restocked.
This month, New York City’s Magnolia Bakery is making a version of its very popular banana pudding without bananas. The chocolate-covered strawberry pudding ships nationwide until February 24. The news is especially exciting to me, as someone who does not like bananas but has heard people raving about this pudding for years.
Spatula brand GIR has created a brand-new kitchen tool. The silicone quad chopper is designed for mashing and chopping foods directly in the pan (or on any other surface you don’t want scratched up).
Jasper Hill Farm has put together a cheese box that raises money for the Anne Saxelby Legacy Fund, which provides young adults with apprenticeships on sustainable farms. It includes Saxelby’s book, The New Rules of Cheese. Order it now to ship the first week of March.
If you forgot to order anything for Valentine’s Day (tomorrow!), this cutesy, root vegetable-themed T-shirt duo from Soul Phoodie might be just the thing to make up for it.

Wishing a very Happy Valentine’s Day to all who observe. If you liked this email, please forward it to a friend. — Monica