Switch Your Whole Grains Up a Notch with Sorghum

Sorghum thrives where other crops would wither and die, yet in the US most of the crop is fed to animals or made into wallboard or packing materials.

Just a few miles from our West Virginia home, sorghum grain is milled for flour and the plant is cooked and crushed stalks made into molasses.

 Apple Oat & Sorghum Muffins

Sorghum is gluten free. Gluten free flours work best in batter breads, cookies, muffins and pancakes. Because it's the gluten that forms the structure, gluten free batters bake best in small pans. Muffin tins or one serving cake pans can do the trick.

Whole Grain Garbanzo Bread

Sorghum, buckwheat and brown rice flours combine with garbanzo bean flour to make a beautifully colored yeast bread. The gluten free bread rose nicely and, while a bit crumbly, was not heavy in texture.

This sorghum sponge cake has added brown rice flour to hold it together.

Sorghum grain takes 25-40 minutes to cook on stove top. Mix 1 part sorghum with 4 cups water.

In this recipe for Italian wedding soup, I substituted whole grain cornmeal for the bread crumbs in the meatballs and whole grain sorghum for the tiny pasta.  The taste and appearance is equal.  The nutrient density is increased.

Italian Wedding Soup

(Makes 4 cups) 

Meatballs
Mix ingredients in bowl of electric mixer.  Drop by 1 tablespoon scoops onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 375F. for approximately 15 minutes or until interior temperature reaches 165F.
(Makes 40)
8 ounce ground beef
1 egg
2 tablespoon whole grain cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme

Soup
In a saucepan on stove top, saute vegetables in olive oil until soft, 3-5 minutes.
1/3 cup diced onion
1/3 cup diced carrots
1/3 cup diced celery
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Add chicken broth and bay leaf.  Simmer for 30 minutes.
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 bay leaf 

Stir in spinach, cooked sorghum and meatballs.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat to 165F.
1 cup spinach, stems removed
1/2 cup cooked sorghum