Thank you both for your added information on little millet and barnyard millet.

Regarding "food grade" grains, this could be a useful discussion. Are there not some varieties with size or flavor characteristics that might be more suited to food uses? "Food grade" may also be a reference to the quality of the grain (remember Gary's proposed proso millet grain standards).

Regarding sourcing proso for food, I used to get it from bulk bins at stores like Whole Foods, until they stopped stocking it, or a local independent grocer that sadly closed last year. Now I'll buy a packaged brand, of which there are several containing US production (Eden Foods, Anthony's, Grand Teton Ancient Grains, Bob's Red Mill, Shiloh Farms, Living Now, and Relative Foods, to name a few), plus many more from India and China. (Some other companies such as Arrowhead Mills markets proso millet flour, but apparently not whole grains.) For examples of proso products, see https://www.pinterest.com/drdonosborn/millets-plural/proso-millet-proso/

Kudos to three of the American companies that give more complete information than others on the identity of the "millet" in their respective products. In each case, they give the species name; Eden and Grand Teton also have alternative common names for proso - "yellow millet" & "white millet," respectively):
* Eden Foods https://store.edenfoods.com/millet-organic-16-oz/?srsltid=AfmBOorL6tOIlzfn1XBbhfd1O98IluxI7uuLgwIjqN-P04SJ3TwrtswJ
* Anthony's Goods https://anthonysgoods.com/products/anthonys-organic-hulled-millet
* Grand Teton Ancient Grains https://www.ancientgrains.com/shop/millet/15-lbs-organic-millet-white-hulled

Don

DO, EL, MI, US
NAMA


On Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 5:36 PM Dipak Santra <dsantra2@unl.edu> wrote:

David:

 

I agree with you about little millet and barnyard millet. Little millet porridge and barnyard millet pudding are yummy.

 

There is not separate proso millet variety for human food. I eat the same bird feed proso millet variety that I eat once a week as rice (same as traditional Indian rice) or litter & lentil soup.

 

Dipak

 

From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space>
Date: Friday, February 28, 2025 at 3:24 PM
To: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>
Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space>
Subject: Re: [Collab] Little Millet Seed Curator Perspective

Caution: Non-NU Email

 

Don,

 

Thanks for the encouragement. 

 

Little millet is fun to eat and a competitive choice for people with enough money to eat whatever they want to.  Barnyard millet is also very edible.  I have not tried a proso millet that was selected for human food use and I wonder if there  is a food-proso that is better than North American varieties selected for high yield.

 

I keep food millet at home in a chest freezer in the original plastic packages.

 

David Brenner

 

From: Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2025 12:54 PM
To: Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS <david.brenner@usda.gov>
Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space <collab@lists.millets2023.space>
Subject: Re: Little Millet Seed Curator Perspective

 

Thank you, David, for these perspectives on little millet resources at your USDA station, and uses of its grain as food.

 

Interesting to know of varieties that perform well in Iowa. (This Panicum species, of course, originated further south than its close cousin, proso.) Are you aware of any experiments with little millet elsewhere in North America? (I understand that Dr. Raju Soolanayakanahally of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has done some work with this millet: https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/science/story-agricultural-science/scientific-achievements-agriculture/shining-spotlight-millet )

 

I should also mention that Dr. Vetriventhan Mani of ICRISAT, who course was one of our webinar presenters on proso last week, also has done significant work with little millet (mainly in India). See for example:

* "The Big Potential of Little Millet," by Eric Hamilton, American Society of Agronomy (via Phys.org), 12 July 2021 https://phys.org/news/2021-07-big-potential-millet.html

* Vetriventhan M, Upadhyaya HD, Azevedo VCR, Allan V, Anitha S. "Variability and trait-specific accessions for grain yield and nutritional traits in germplasm of little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth. Ex. Roem. & Schult.)." Crop Science. 2021; 61: 2658–2679. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20527

 

Regarding little millet purchased in the US, I've had mixed luck. The first batch worked well, cooked mainly as rice or as hot cereal mixed with oatmeal. THe taste I compared as closer to rice than proso's "nutty" flavor. The second purchase seemed a bit old and in storage (I store in glass jars) started turning musty. Also got a pancake mix that used little millet, which was good except I found it overly sweet (due to jaggery in the ingredients).

 

All the best,

 

Don

 

DO, EL, MI, US

NAMA

 

 

On Mon, Feb 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS <david.brenner@usda.gov> wrote:

Little Millet Seed Curator Perspective

 

The US National Plant Germplasm Collection has 211 accessions of little millet (Panicum sumatrense) housed at the station in Ames, Iowa.  All the accessions originated in India. They are widely adapted; most can mature seeds here in Iowa.

 

The observation data on the GRIN online database is mixed with the related proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) data.  https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/cropdetail?type=species&id=226

Most of the little millet collection was grown and imaged in the field here in Iowa. Images and notes are posted.

Examples of little millet accessions that are well adapted in Iowa.

PI 463755 short

PI 463711 early

 

I purchase Little Millet grain at a grocery store in Des Moines, Iowa. It makes a nice tabouli since the grain size is like a fine grade of bulgar wheat.

 

David Brenner                                                                                   David.Brenner@USDA.GOV

                                                                                                                        Or: dbrenner@iastate.edu

 

Plant Introduction Station                                                      phone 515-294-6786

Iowa State University                                                                          

716 Farm House Lane, Ames, IA  50011-1051                

USA  

 

Curator of: Amaranthus, Celosia, Chenopodium, Coronilla, Dalea, Galega, Melilotus, Perilla, Portulaca, Spinacia, miscellaneous Umbelliferae, and the millets: Echinochloa, Panicum, and Setaria.

Hatch Act NC7 Regional Project in the US National Plant Germplasm System

 

 





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