background info on sorghum

[Guest guest]

The recent sorghum questions made me wonder what native peoples eat/ate

sorghum, so I turned to the book " The Splendid Grain " by Wood.

(BTW, never mentions soaking grains. I emailed her about this

and she said that was the one thing she regretted about her book. I

guess she now knows it's important, but what about all the people using

her book?! I bought her book before reading NT -- so I was cooking

grains for a while w/out soaking.)

Here's what she says (book published in 1997):

" Sorghum is as delicious a grain as I have ever eaten. Nutty sweet with

a pleasing, ricelike texture, it would be one of my staples, if only it

were readily available. Not available? What about the miles and miles

of sorghum one passes when driving through the midwestern United States?

The bulk of the domestic crop is grown for livestock feed and the little

remaining is designated for sorghum molasses production; neither of those

varieties work well as a table grain. How unfortunate that sorghum for

people (Sorghum bicolor) is not grown in this country.

Sorghum is a sturdy and genetically diverse member of the grass family

that ranks fifth in the world's major cereal crop production. Initially

it was probably cultivated in central Africa with subsequent distribution

throughout the world. Since it thrives where temperatures soar and rain

rarely falls, since both people and animals eat it, and since its yields

per acre are generous, it is a precious commodity. Most sorghum is

consumed in the area where it is grown, making it a critical food source

for many people in the arid regions of Africa and India.

Throughout the world, sorghum is generally made into porridge, flatbread,

beverages and snack foods. There are literally hundreds of names for and

variations of the same product, depending on where it is made. In many

regions of Africa, sorghum is also eaten as a fresh vegetable much as we

eat corn on the cob in the United States.

Traditional milling of sorghum is done by hand with a wooden mortar and

pestle. In Africa, it can take two women about one and a half hours to

mill the daily portion of sorghum for a family of four. The nutritional

profile of sorghum differs from variety to variety, but it is similar to

maize, though a little higher in protein. "

My questions:

1. Have Americans or native Americans ever eaten sorghum traditionally?

If so, why did we stop?

2. Is the " sorghum for people " now grown here? Is that what Red Mills

sells? Or the website that Heidi has mentioned?

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