"Sorghum" news and stories

A Virginia entrepreneur is marketing a product he's begun to describe as "like popcorn, only better." According to Dan Gadra, popped sorghum doesn't have any hulls, so snackers don't have to worry about anything getting stuck in their teeth. "It's smaller than corn so it's easier to eat," he adds. "It's nuttier-tasting, and it has a little bit more fiber."

Sorghum – also known as milo, millet and broomcorn -- is the grain of choice in hot, dry places where corn won't grow. But Americans have used the grain primarily for syrup and livestock feed since industrial producers started pushing wheat. "It's just one of those legacy grains that went out of style with Wonder Bread," Gadra says.

But sorghum didn't completely fade from the culinary scene: Gadra got his start in the popped sorghum business after hearing the grain was something every dedicated foodie had to try. He met plenty of fellow gourmands with the same marching orders, and was soon making "popghum" in flavors including berbere, curry, adobo and caramel sea salt. The varieties, he explains, were inspired by places where sorghum's a standard grain.

One of the great treats I had while driving through Kentucky last spring were the biscuits with sorghum-butter spread at a Louisville diner. The sweet, whipped spread melted on the hot fluffy biscuits, tasting lightly of honey. I'd heard of sorghum before, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was.

Sorghum syrup is made from the juice of the sweet sorghum cane, which grows all over the southeastern United States. African slaves introduced sorghum cane to the country in the early 17th century, and it rapidly became popular across the Midwest and, later, the South. A drought-resistant, heat-tolerant crop, it was hoped that sorghum could be used as a substitute for sugar cane, but extracting dry sugar from the syrup proved too difficult.

Sorghum syrup, which tends to be a medium brown in color, can often be used as a substitute for honey or corn syrup. Check out this site for a variety of sorghum recipes, including baked beans, shoo-fly pie, and old-fashioned sorghum cake.