FINDSBite the BirdOstrich, as all well-informed people...

FINDS

Bite the Bird

Ostrich, as all well-informed people know, is the leanest red meat--leaner, in fact, than chicken and turkey--so the fitness crowd was bound to take interest. The first ostrich-based sports nutrition food is Ostrim, which comes in the usual jerky flavors (regular, pepper, barbecue and teriyaki) but is not dry like jerky. A 1 1/2-ounce stick contains 13 grams of protein (26% of the RDA) and only 1 gram of fat.

Ostrim Sports Nutrition Meat Stick is available in health food stores, fitness centers and sporting goods stores. For more information and a free sample, call (800) 274-3263.

The Fish Gripper

Filleting a fish is a slippery chore, and it’s easy to cut yourself. This special glove is designed to help two ways: It gives you a good grip, and the specially woven fabric incorporates steel fibers that protect your hand even if the knife does go that-a-way. Comes in medium or large sizes; machine washable, it conforms to either right or left hand.

K-Steel Fillet Glove, $15.99 plus shipping from Chef’s Catalog; call (800) 338-3232.

Monsooned for Your Pleasure

When sailing vessels were replaced by steamships, Indian coffee was a casualty. Europeans complained that it no longer had the smooth flavor they’d valued.

It turned out the difference was moisture; coffee beans changed character during a four- to six-month voyage in the damp hold of a wooden-hulled ship. Nowadays Indian coffee growers achieve the same effect by exposing the beans to moist winds during the monsoon season. By the end of the monsoons, the beans have swollen to twice their original size and their moisture content has gone from 10.5% to 14.5%.

The “monsooned” beans burn easily, so they can’t be roasted dark. But they don’t need to be, because they’re surprisingly low in acid.

Monsooned Malabar coffee is $12.50 a pound at City Bean in West Hollywood and Westwood, or call (888) CITYBEAN.