Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is our "millet-of-the-month" in June (the MotM calendar is appended and attached). Sorghum is also the "grain-of-the-month" of our friends at the Whole Grains Council. Sorghum, sometimes also called "great millet," is a grain with many varieties and uses, Its total global production is on the order of 60 million MT/year (which is maybe twice that of all other #millets combined, but less than a tenth of a major cereal like wheat or rice). Sorghum was first domesticated in Africa - probably somewhere in the eastern Sahel. It spread to Asia in ancient times, and is now a global crop. For more about sorghum: * Encyclopaedia Britannica (a brief intro): https://www.britannica.com/plant/sorghum-grain * WIkipedia (a longer intro): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorghum_bicolor * Whole Grains Council: https://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/grain-month-calendar/sorghum... * National Sorghum Growers; Sorghum 101: https://sorghumgrowers.com/sorghum-101/ * Sorghum Checkoff, Sorghum 101: https://www.sorghumcheckoff.com/sorghum-101/ * Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sorghum * Half-Scratched (recipes): https://www.halfscratched.com/sorghum-recipes/ (there are many sites online with sorghum recipes; this page lists 23 examples with photos, descriptions, outlinks for the actual recipes, so it seems a decent starting place) And see also the website of our friends at Sorghum United: http://sorghumunited.com/ ---------- The "millet-of-the-month" calendar, and how you can help The aim of "Millet-of-the-month" is to spotlight individual millets out of this often poorly understood group of grains. I do think that we have progressed from reference to "millet" (sounds like one thing, even if it is meant as a collective reference) to "millets" (okay, there are several of them), but that needs disambiguation. In some International Year of Millets publicity, one sees "millets" promoted, but that seems to beg the question: What are they? And the answers to that question most productively arrive at their individual identities: Where and under what conditions does each grow well? How does a particular millet work in cooking, and why might one choose one over another in a dish? What are their respective histories, and the cultures of farming and food that bring them to us? We're halfway through the calendar, and if you've been watching this space, you'll have noted that we (or mainly I) have been late each month to get info out on the current millet-of-the-month. And then that info is relatively limited in scope and reach. So here's the ask: If you have tie and interest, please consider posting on social media about the current "millet-of-the-month" - per the calendar below and in attachment - using the hashtag #milletofthemonth and the name of the month (and obviously the name of the millet, altho that may be in the item posted anyway). And, if you see such an item posted - such as on our twitter account at https://twitter.com/NAmericaMillets - feel free to repost it. Jan., proso millet, Panicum miliaceum Feb., finger millet, Eleusine coracana Mar., foxtail millet, Setaria italica Apr., pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum May, fonio, Digitaria spp. June, sorghum, Sorghum bicolor July, barnyard millet, Echinochloa spp. Aug., little millet, Panicum sumatrense Sep., browntop & Guinea, Brachiaria spp. Oct., kodo millet, Paspalum scrobiculatum Nov., teff, Eragrostis tef Dec., adlay/Job’s Tears, Coix lacryma-jobi Thanks for considering helping us out with this. And try something new with sorghum! Don Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
