Sorghum is a cereal grain that grows tall like corn, and it is used for a lot more than just sweetening. First and foremost, in the United States, sorghum is used as livestock feed and turned into ethanol. It’s a popular crop to grow within the drier regions of the States because it is drought resistant.Sorghum is full of dietary fiber, which we all need. And it also makes a wonderful flour for gluten-free baking. Its nutty, slightly sweet taste and its high protein percentage has made it part of many baking mix for years.
Grain Sorghum
- Sorghum has an exceptionally hard part, which makes it impervious to illness and harm however more earnestly to process for creatures.
- Sorghum is a flat, vertical grass that is used for grain and feed production. Grain sorghum is shorter and is grown for higher grain yields.
- Durra, feterita, kaffir or kaffir corn, kaoliang, milo or milo maize, and shallu are all varieties of grain sorghum. The pulverized grain is used for stock and poultry feeds and, in the Old World, for food. Sorghums also provide cover crops and green manures, grain substitutes for many industrial processes that employ corn, and fuel and weaving material from the stems. Other classes of sorghums include sweet sorghums and broom corn.
- Starch from waxy sorghums is used in adhesives and for sizing paper and fabrics, and is an ingredient in oil drilling “mud.”
Sweet Sorghum
- Sorghum is an important part of the diets of many people in the world. It is made into unleavened breads, boiled porridge or gruel, malted beverages, and specialty foods such as popped grain and syrup from sweet sorghum.
- Sweet sorghum has been widely cultivated in the U.S. since the 1850s for use in sweeteners, primarily in the form of sorghum syrup.
- Sorghum contains iron, calcium and potassium. Before the invention of daily vitamins, many doctors prescribed sorghum as a daily supplement for people with deficiencies in these nutrients.
- Making syrup from sorghum (as from sugar cane) is heavily labor intensive. Following World War II, with the declining availability of farm labor, sorghum syrup production fell drastically. Currently, less than 1 million gallons are produced annually in the U.S.
