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Which "millet" is in the Biblical verse, Ezekiel 4:9?
by Don Osborn 09 Sep '24

09 Sep '24

Even if you haven't read the Bible, you may have seen the one verse from it that mentions "millet" on a brand of sprouted bread and cereal named after that verse: Ezekiel 4:9. "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof." Ezekiel 4:9 (ASV)/1 But do we know what millet it was exactly? The Hebrew is דֹּחִן (do'chan), which more than one source on the Bible say is Panicum miliaceum (proso or broomcorn millet). One of those sources, the authoritative *McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia* is among those commentaries./2 That source also notes the Arabic cognate, دُخْن (duḵn), which it says also refers to P. miliaceum. However, Wehr and Cowan's authoritative *A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic* (3rd ed., 1976) defines the term as pearl millet, i.e., Pennisetum glaucum./3 Both the Hebrew and Arabic words come from roots that also denote smoke. McClintock and Strong see the connection with proso as being "the dark-green or smoky color of the leaf." However, one should also note that the grains of pearl millet typically have a greyish hue, that might be called a smoky color as well. Another source on the Bible, says that the Arabic word is used "to describe two different kinds of millet" (which it does not specify)./4 That might remove the ambiguity in favor of the Hebrew word meaning P. miliaceum - if perhaps the two millets in Arabic are proso and pearl. However, it would be useful to consult work of historians and ethnobotanists on the dissemination of these two crops in the ancient Middle East - one coming from China and the other from West Africa. A shallow dive on the latter suggestion ... It's hard from researching online to get any clear answer, and I'm under no illusion that "doing my own research" on the internet about common names for millets in ancient languages would refute the conclusions of Biblical scholars. However, having worked along the boundaries of domain expertise, where understandable errors can be made and overlooked, I would not be astonished if a valid case could be made for pearl millet in the Book of Ezekiel. There has been research and discussion about how the African-origin millets - pearl millet, sorghum, and finger millet - made their way to India./5 It is also known that on the one hand, pearl millet was in Egypt fairly early, and that proso was in Sudanese Nubia for a time, even though there's apparently no evidence for it in Egypt or Mesopotamia. While proso disseminated across Eurasia to Europe, did it also follow a sea-coast route from Asia to Nubia (the reverse of what has been posited for African millets to India)? All of this, by the way, before the time of the Book of Ezekiel. Could proso have become the or an established millet in the Middle East in the time of Ezekiel? Keep in mind that its cultivation in Nubia did not endure. What of pearl millet in the region during this period? Anyway, lots of questions. Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance Notes: 1. https://www.bible.com/bible/compare/EZK.4.9 2. https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/M/millet.html 3. https://ia803408.us.archive.org/3/items/dictionary-of-modern-written-arabic… (scroll to p; 275) 4. https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Millet 5. https://dispatchesfromturtleisland.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-did-african-cro… (a discussion about research, including by noted millets scholar Dorian Q. Fuller)

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Millets Market Report, ... 2024-2032
by Don Osborn 08 Sep '24

08 Sep '24

"Millets Market Report, Forecast by Product, Application, Distribution Channels, Countries and Company Analysis 2024-2032" is a 200 page document released in August 2024 by Renub Research. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5459139/millets-market-report-fo… The linked page has a summary and table of contents, plus purchase options (prices are not for the faint of heart or thin of wallet!). The overall forecast looks similar to previous such documents seen in recent years: "The global millets market is expected to touch US$ 17.65 billion by 2032 from US$ 10.56 billion in 2023, with a CAGR of 5.88% between 2023-2032. The driving forces are rising customer demand for health and fitness requirements, shift in dietetics: vegan and vegetarian meals, millets being large scale food crops, more stress on nutritionals around the world." Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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Deeper dive on "Polish millet"
by Don Osborn 03 Sep '24

03 Sep '24

I was curious to understand better what the state and usage of Polish millet was anyway, but learning that a variety of this same species (Digitaria sanguinalis) for food in part of India (per my post on "sikiya millet") prompted me to take a deeper dive. First, a German contact from my language/localization days, who also has an interest in food diversity, kindly did a search not long ago for references in German to current cultivation of this grain. All she found was mention of its possible use for mouse food. Historically, there is more to it, however, so with a different research tack (and in English), here are some more items under two headings. POLISH MILLET IN EUROPE First, how was Digitaria sanguinalis a European crop grown, how important was it, and what was it used for? J.C. Loudon's 1825 *An Encyclopedia of Gardening* (London : Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green) offers a couple of helpful perspectives: "The common millet is grown on the [European] continent as a garden-plant for its seeds, to be used as a substitute for rice : the Polish millet (Digitaria sanguinalis) is grown for this purpose in the cottage gardens in Poland ; as is the carnation poppy (Papaver somniferum], for its seeds, which form a seasoning to buck-wheat porridge." p. 684 https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofg00loudrich/page/684/mode/1up [NB- "common millet" in this context is probably proso millet, Psnicum miliaceum] "In some places [in Poland], the common carnation poppy is grown for the seed, which taken when beginning to ripen, and strewed on a sort of milk-porridge, or milk-paste, made from the meal of buck-wheat, or Polish millet (Dactylon sanguinale), is reckoned a delicacy." p. 63 https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofg00loudrich/page/63/mode/1up [NB- the species name is a synonym for Digitaria sanguinalis, per Kew.org] Looking further back in history, L.J. Reitsema et al's 2017 "Resilience and local dietary adaptation in rural Poland, 1000–1400 CE" (Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 45: 38-52) adds some context: "A less-often mentioned C4 plant in medieval Polish diet is Digitarium sanguinalis, known today as Polish millet or crabgrass, and known in historic times as 'sown manna.' Its seeds are small and harvested by hand, thus sown manna was more likely an elite food than a daily staple, and likely contributed few calories to diet, unlike millet." p. 41 https://anthropology.uga.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Reitsema%20et… [NB- Digitarium should be Digitaria. Also, I was surprised not to find clarification of the species of "millet" mentioned in the article, again most likely Panicum miliaceum] So, Polish millet may not have been a field crop so much as one grown on smaller scales. (The idea of growing cereal grains in a garden setting is not so unusual - there are people who do that with certain varieties of wheat in the US, for example.) And this grain figures as a source of variety in diet, rather than as a main staple. Still lots of questions, but this fills out the picture somewhat. POLISH MILLET / CRABGRASS IN NORTH AMERICA How was this species used when first brought to North America? I'm still looking for a good source on that, but in the meantime, Wikipedia tells us that "The plant was brought to the United States by immigrants to serve as hand-foraged grain." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitaria_sanguinalis The earliest reference in the US to "Polish millet" that I see (via Newspapers.com) is from the New England Farmer (Boston, MA), 14 March 1857, p. 1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/404591118/: "'Of the Millet there are three distinct genera. Tho Polish millet, cultivated in Poland, the common millet cultivated in Germany, and in England and United States, and the great or Indian millet, cultivated in India, Italy, and now in America.' The Egyptian millet which you spoke of we think must be the great or Indian millet. We have it dried and hung up in our seed-room, as also the common millet. The latter is a frequent crop in this State. It is excellent both as a green fodder, or to be cured for hay." NB- This is a pretty prominent mention for Polish millet, such as it is. The "great or Indian millet" may be sorghum. "Egyptian millet" may be pearl millet?? Regarding "common millet," this is a term I avoid, because its application varies, but I suspect that here, as generally in the US during the 19th century, it referred to foxtail millet, Setaria italica, of which a variety from Germany (sometimes called German millet) being apparently common. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) had a 2 part series on millets in 1877. It confirms some of my hunches concerning nomenclature above. The second part (13 Sep. 1877, p. 2 https://www.newspapers.com/image/27309529/ ) has this about Polish millet: "Polish millet. The manna grass of the Germans, [D]igitaria sanguinalis of some botanists, has already been noticed in a former paper under the name Panicum sanguinale. It is sometimes cultivated in Poland, whence its trivial name, for the grain as a substitute for rice. etc. It seems to thrive there under cultivation, almost as well as with us, in spite of our attempts to exterminate it." The latter remark indicates a perception of the plant that was at least ambiguous. Later reporting on the species refers to it more often as crabgrass, and as a weed problem on farms, and how to deal with it. Searching on "crabgrass" and "Digitaria" I found a reference earlier than all the above to using this species for hay in the SE US: The Newbernian (New Bern, NC), 16 Aug. 1833, p. 3 https://www.newspapers.com/image/53995071/ . Forty years later in the same state, a longish article on crabgrass acknowledged that it was a "public enemy," but made the contrarian case for promoting it as a forage crop given its tenacity and ability to grow on poor soils. Scotchman and Observer, 29 July 1873, p. 2 https://www.newspapers.com/image/73230269/ (If you dig deeper on the subject, there are discussions elsewhere of when and how to best mow this species for hay, and how to dry it - people have put some time into it.) As for crabgrass as a weed on lawns, the earliest mention I saw in my rapid searches was in 1889 (the same article in several papers). These references got more frequent by the 1920s or so. That brings us to a context more widely familiar to many people today. I'd conclude with the usual call for more research, but do think that this relative of fonio deserves more attention. How do varieties cultivated in central Europe (if we still have them) and India compare with each other, and with the weedy varieties that we try to get rid of? Are the grains of this obscure millet really a "manna" in terms of taste? How hard would it be to breed varieties that produce seed in a shorter time window, making production for grain more feasible? Could the lessons from processing fonio be directly applied to this Polish millet? Is crabgrass actually a potential temperate-zone fonio, both as a resilient crop and as a nutritious food? Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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Article on millets in Spanish
by Don Osborn 02 Sep '24

02 Sep '24

"Mijo: qué es, propiedades y beneficios" (Bon Viveur, 12 June 2024) is a very nice introduction to millets by food journalist Laia Shamirian Pulido. https://www.bonviveur.es/gastroteca/mijo The article introduces millets and their origins, with mention of specific millets. It touches on various aspects of these grains and their consumption, from nutritional qualities to how to cook them. The only downsides are: * Stating that fonio is in East Africa (it's actually West, of course) * A discussion of "contraindications" concerning pearl millet and goiter that leaves an impression that it is more serious than current research seems to indicate (see my recent post, "Goitrogen issue again ... https://lists.millets2023.space/pipermail/collab/2024-August/000621.html ) Altogether, however, it seems like a good article to share as an intro to millets. It would be helpful to have recommendations of other good articles in Spanish on millets. (And in French as well, but I'll come back to that topic later.) Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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"Millets in the U.S.A.: Importance, Challenges, and Potential for Innovation"
by Don Osborn 01 Sep '24

01 Sep '24

The July issue of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter (#53) includes articles from distinguished researchers on millets in various regions, including one by Dinakaran Elango, Juan Di Salvo, Srikanth Panthulugiri, Rituraj Khound, David M. Brenner, Asheesh K. Singh, and Dipak K. Santra entitled "Millets in the U.S.A.: Importance, Challenges, and Potential for Innovation" (pp. 12-13). This is a very nice and succinct overview of millets in the US and their potential. As one would expect, a significant part of the article discusses proso millet. The whole issue of the newsletter is available at: https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Newsletters/pbg-53.pdf The other titles regarding millets, and their authors are: * "Millets: The Climate-Resilient Solution to Global Food Security Challenges." Fatma Sarsu and Shashi Kumar Gupta (pp. 6-8) * "Millets in Africa: Importance, Challenges, and Potential for Innovation." Adane Gebreyohannes, Maliata Athon Wanga, Elisabeth Zida, Fatma Sarsu, and Hussein Shimelis (pp. 8-10) * "Innovations of Millets in China." Guanqing Jia and Xianmin Diao (pp. 10-11) The Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter is a publication of the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme: Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. For more info, see: https://www.iaea.org/about/organizational-structure/department-of-nuclear-s… DO, EL, MI, US NAMA

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Chef Pierre Thiam on the Future Fork podcast (26 Aug. 2024)
by Don Osborn 31 Aug '24

31 Aug '24

As we close out August, in which fonio is the millet of the month (along with related Digitarias), I'd like to share info on a recent podcast featuring Chef Pierre Thiam, who has certainly done more than any other individual to introduce fonio to the world. The podcast in Paul Newnham's Future Fork series, is entitled "The importance of agricultural diversity" (26 August 2024. 34:56). Link and episode description follow: https://omny.fm/shows/future-fork/pierre-thiam "Pierre Thiam is an Author, Activist, and the Executive Chef at Teranga and NOK by Alara. His restaurants allow him to showcase West African cuisine with a focus on sustainability. He founded Yolélé to support smallholder farms in the Sahel region of Africa and advocate for the nutritious West African grain, Fonio. Pierre has also written four cookbooks so people can enjoy African cuisine at home. "In this episode, Pierre shares how his passion for food took him from Dakar to New York City and how he uses his position to celebrate and preserve traditional food cultures. Pierre also shares how he promotes sustainable food systems, supports small farmers, and raises awareness about underutilised crops such as Fonio." DO, EL, MI, US NAMA

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Northern climate breeding programs
by Joni Kindwall-Moore 31 Aug '24

31 Aug '24

Hi everyone, have you ever worked with the team at https://www.aerc.ca/ If yes, could you please make an introduction? thanks *Joni Kindwall-Moore BSN-RN, BA* Founder, Innovator, Mother, Nurse, Activist *P: 406-334-1608* *www.snacktivistfoods.com <http://www.snacktivistfoods.com/>* *Welcome to the Snacktivist Nation! *

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Goitrogen issue again - pearl millet & fonio
by Don Osborn 30 Aug '24

30 Aug '24

Anti-nutrients of one sort or another are present in varying degrees in many of plants we eat (grains, pseudo-cereals, pulses, and vegetables)./a Among the anti-nutrients, goitrogens are often associated with millets. Some articles about millets raise the issue, But how much of a concern are goitrogens, are there differences among millets or varieties of a millet, and how do they compare with what one might find in other plants? Without trying to go into more detail than I am qualified to comment on, I thought I'd pass on two interesting recent links. First, however, let's review a definition: "Goitrogens are substances that disrupt the production of thyroid hormones. This triggers the pituitary to release thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which then promotes the growth of thyroid tissue, eventually leading to goiter."/b 1. Anitha S, Upadhyay S, Grando S, Kane-Potaka J. "Does consumption of pearl millet cause goiter? A systematic review of existing evidence." *Frontiers in Nutrition*. 2024 Mar 7;11:1323336. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1323336. PMID: 38515523; PMCID: PMC10955131. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10955131/ Abstract: "Millets (defined here to also include sorghum) have been consumed in Asian and African countries for centuries, and have in recent years become increasingly popular in Western countries, especially because of their proven health and environmental benefits. Nevertheless, some concerns have been raised that their consumption can interfere with thyroid function and cause goiter. This systematic review aimed to investigate the link between millet consumption and goiter. We found nine papers that were relevant to this topic and included them in this review. Among nine papers eight were on pearl millet and one was on fonio millet. The findings of the review indicate that published literature on the association of pearl millet and increased goiter prevalence are not compelling and strong enough to assert that pearl millet consumed as part of a balanced diet can lead to goiter in the general population. To ensure appropriate factual messaging about millets, we need more scientific research to conclusively state whether millet consumption mediates goitrogenic effects." 2. The podcast "Gut Feeling with Dr. Pal" (Dr. Pal Manickam) featured an episode entitled "All About How & When to Eat Millets - Health Benefits & Side Effects of Millets Explained by Dr Rao" (15 June 2024) includes a discussion of thyroid and the goitrogen issue (at the 51:21 mark, for a bit more than 2 minutes): - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKBwKbunTJA&list=PLVlf929ZD8laSTsczo4BlVS_N… - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-about-how-when-to-eat-millets-hea… This is a long and wide-ranging discussion of millets, if you have the time to listen, but it's easy to drop into the point indicated to hear what they have to say on this topic. Comments based on all the above: * A single line of research in Sudan looms large in discussions of pearl millet and goiter. * A combination of low iodide in diet plus goitrogens may raise risk * Since there does not seem to be a high incidence of goiter in other regions where pearl millet is consumed (notably those in India), might there be a chemical difference in varieties of pearl millet? * Chemically, the goitrogens in fonio are different than those in pearl millet (which in turn raises questions about the nature of goitrogens across other foods) If you have other items on this topic, which comes up periodically, please share. Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance Notes: a. Petroski W, Minich DM. "Is There Such a Thing as 'Anti-Nutrients'? A Narrative Review of Perceived Problematic Plant Compounds." *Nutrients*. 2020 Sep 24;12(10):2929. doi: 10.3390/nu12102929. PMID: 32987890; PMCID: PMC7600777. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7600777/ b. "Goitrogen" on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goitrogen

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Sikiya millet in India (D. sanguinalis)
by Don Osborn 29 Aug '24

29 Aug '24

The Baiga <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiga> of Dindori district <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dindori_district> in Madhya Pradesh <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradesh> cultivate a small millet called "sikiya," which is apparently a variety of *Digitaria sanguinalis*. This is evidently on a very small scale Looking for other sources, but in the meantime, see: - "Madhya Pradesh's century-old millet sikiya finds few revivalists," by Deepanwita Gita Niyogi, Down to Earth, 14 Aug. 2018 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/food/madhya-pradesh-s-century-old-millet-sik… - "Fonio of the Baigas," Agro-Eco Wisdom: The Indian Context (blog), 18 Dec. 2019 https://agriwisdom.wordpress.com/2019/12/18/fonio-of-the-baigas/ *D. sanguinalis* has also been called Polish millet, based on its use in Central Europe, but is more widely known as ... large crabgrass Is there a food potential to this "weed" that merits more attention? Has there been a study of varieties of this now-global species? Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance

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a Minnesota tradition
by Robin Asbell 25 Aug '24

25 Aug '24

I know it's not a food use, but millet always shows up at the Minnesota State Fair in the Seed Art. Those of you from other parts of the world may find this a strange thing, but people love it. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/08/21/blossoming-late-new-state-fair-cro… -- *Robin Asbell* *http://robinasbell.com/ <http://robinasbell.com/>*

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