Red sorghum

Sorghum bicolor

grain

Red grains of a tannin-rich sorghum, the cereal of Africa's semi-arid regions; as porridge, flatbread, or brewed. It provides fibre, arabinoxylans and tannins.

Origin

West Africa

Season (United States)

all year round

Preparation

The rinsed grains soak for a few hours then cook for about an hour; it is mostly eaten as flour, fermented porridge or flatbreads, and brewed into beer. Soaking, sprouting or sourdough bring its phytates down — and release the zinc and iron they were holding. Most of its goitrogens go with cooking, even a short one. Its tannins hold back plant iron: better away from an iron-rich meal than during it.

Molecules

Resistant starch RS1 · Arabinoxylans · Insoluble fibersIn small amounts, not counted Anthocyanins · Flavanols and procyanidinsWhat slows things down Phytates · Goitrogens · Tannins (iron brake)

Did you know?

In the Sahel, dolo and tchapalo, traditional drinks, are made from sorghum boiled in water and then fermented.