Under the right conditions, they turn the same color as french fries. The fiber has minimal taste. The quill is a little crunchy and takes on the flavor of any seasoning added. One important part of your process is the removal of the feather-hairs from the quill, as the quill is the weaker part of the feather. The quill is actually quite similar to fingernail, and the fiber is like hair.
Hair is two-layered, made of parallel cylinders.
At the molecular level, the quill is weaker and more brittle than the fiber. Thus, under the mechanical stress at which the quill breaks, the fiber just bends. First, the feathers are cleaned. We use a water-soluble solvent like ethanol, which removes the soluble protein, dissolves the fat, and dries the feathers. The removal of the soluble protein and fats eliminates the food source upon which bacteria can grow.