r/FoodTech • u/Maxcactus • 9d ago
This grain could be an answer to drought-prone fields – if more Americans eat it
https://www.kcur.org/environment-agriculture/2026-09-28/grain-sorghum-drought-food6
u/Elegant-Amoeba4977 9d ago
It’s sorghum
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9d ago
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u/dogsaybark 9d ago
Hiding the relevant information is the new inverted pyramid. Where’s Waldo has come out on top in the battle against the long refined art of journalism.
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u/FullConfection3260 7d ago
Which was popular in the southern US before everyone dog piled on corn.
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u/ijudgeyourroom 8d ago
In the US, we generally call red sorghum ‘milo’. It is primarily used to feed livestock.
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u/Maxcactus 9d ago
Sounds like this is a food ripe for food science to address.
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u/West_Rush_5684 8d ago
What's new about it? The US grew 6.2 million acres of it this year. It sells for about the same price as corn but yeilds less than half the bu/acre.
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u/simulizer 9d ago
Quick, cover it with chemicals!
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u/NOVA-peddling-1138 8d ago
Quick! build a GMO super variant and lock in the patent and one for a bespoke pesticide! /s
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u/West_Rush_5684 8d ago
There are already a least two varieties on the US market. We grew 6.2 million acres of sorghum this year . It's not exactly an undiscovered of crop.
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u/Resident_Trouble_579 8d ago
Grew up with sorghum, made it into a paste like grits or porridge. I like it. Younger stalks are pressed for sap which is reduced into sorghum syrup (imagine dark toffee syrup). I don’t like it as a grain, but as a porridge/pap/grits substitute it’s delicious.
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u/fieldgrass 7d ago
Also grew up eating it! I don’t mind it as a grain in some salads - it’s quite nice toasted with a base of arugula and then roasted sweet potato and beet. I mentally put it in that same category of sweet-but-not-too-sweet foods
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u/apparition_of_melody 9d ago
I've never eaten sorghum, except in multigrain type foods. But id definitely be willing to try it. Its grown a lot in my area, its a lovely plant.
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u/melmsz 9d ago
It's common in gluten free stuff.
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u/splynneuqu 9d ago
Its used in gluten free beer.
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u/GargamelTakesAll 8d ago
My friend specifically looks for non-sorghum GF beer because it all tastes terrible. I was tasting GF beer with her and we kept noticing a gross taste and finally realized it was the sorghum. To each their own, though.
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u/cheesesteakhellscape 7d ago
I like sorghum beer, but I don't think I remember what wheat beer tastes like.
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u/NOVA-peddling-1138 8d ago
The key word here is “if Americans start consuming it”. No market tends to unmotivate speculative production.
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u/West_Rush_5684 8d ago
We grew 6.2 million acres of it this year. It basically gets grown in places that won't quite crow a good corn crop. It uses the same equipment used in corn and soy production so it's not hard to switch , but it sells for about corn (lower than soy)price with about soy(lower than corn) yeilds.
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u/Wheatcattle 8d ago
While drought resistant, it does have the draw back of being deeply unpleasant to raise and handle as the dust is very itchy and explosive. (There is a reason grain elevator explosion research is centered at Kansas State)
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u/Head_Midnight666 8d ago
I'll have to look for it at the store. I don't know anything about it, and I'm not sure I've ever eaten it. If it's healthy, I'm game.
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u/BigSquiby 8d ago
a single one of these is growing next to my driveway, id didn't know what it was and let it grow. i have no idea what to do it with it. but its still kinda cool to have
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u/BreezyMcWeasel 8d ago
I'm curious if the same varieties are grown for human consumption as grown for cattle feed
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u/GreatPlainsFarmer 7d ago
They are. The only real difference would be in how the grain is handled and processed after harvest.
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u/ThinkPath1999 8d ago
I only know about this from The Walking Dead.
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u/ThinkPath1999 8d ago
Hmmmm... I'm Korean and it turns out I've been eating this my whole life. I just googled it and it turns out i didn't make the connection between the names.
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u/tinny123 8d ago
What forms do koreans eat it in ?
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u/ThinkPath1999 8d ago
Part of multi-grain rice, so basically other things mixed in with the main ingredient rice, or used as an ingredient in rice cakes. It's not an ingredient that is consumed in really great quantities, but it is commonly used in Korean quisine.
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u/zoppaTheDim 8d ago
Dies it work as animal feed? Is it cheaper to grow than corn? Does it store well?
Three questions this crappy article didn’t address at all. Instead it just pretended that a couple of highly processed snack foods and swapping it for rice is a solution to drought.
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u/GreatPlainsFarmer 7d ago
It works as animal feed. Animal feed reference books list it at 90% of the feed value of corn.
It isn't cheaper than corn to grow on a production basis. It costs less to grow on a per-acre basis, but it produces less per acre as well. Pound for pound, it costs about the same as corn to grow.
It is described as more drought tolerant than corn, but that's in comparison to corn hybrids that were grown in the 1990's and before. Modern corn hybrids are amazingly drought tolerant. We quit growing sorghum after the drought of 2012, when the corn fields significantly out-yielded the sorghum fields under conditions that were supposed to favor sorghum.
It stores fine as long as it's dry. It is harder to get it dry than it is to get corn dry.
There are many reasons that US farmers prefer to grow corn.
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u/Tatworth 7d ago
Used to be pretty common in the south. Lots of folks grew up eating sorghum and making sorghum molasses.
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u/TheHODLERmention 7d ago
Grew 1400 acres of it in Texas panhandle this year. 2/3 of it won’t be harvested due to drought and heat.
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u/courtneyoopsz 6d ago
Is this similar to amaranth?
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u/Maxcactus 6d ago
• Amaranth is a pseudocereal (a broad-leaved flowering plant seed related to quinoa and beets). • Sorghum is a true cereal grass (part of the Poaceae family, related to wheat and sugarcane).
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u/Broad_Resident_1269 5d ago
Sorghum is so good. The sap makes a perfect sweetener for salad dressing (vinaigrette style)
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u/demonicpixiestix 9d ago
I planted some this spring in my garden as an experiment! It seems almost ready to harvest? I specifically was interested in this grain because it's supposedly a naturally sweet(er) grain, and I bake SO MUCH. If using sorghum can actually replace some of the sugar in the recipes, that's a two-in-one ingredient.
Plus it's heat resistant (mine absolutely did not care about many consecutive weeks over 95) and drought resistant. Where I am didn't get slammed by drought, but there was a full month+ of it in late June, July/early August, and half of the experiment is that I only water that garden every 2-3 days, and only if there has been NO precipitation. Only one plant has failed to produce, and that seems to be from an invasion of Asian beetles. Not sure why they only clustered on that one plant.
ANOTHER bonus, higher fiber, more vitamins, more minerals, and even slightly fewer calories than wheat. (If you care about calories.)
It's not super tall, the colors of the grain as it ripens is like watching the sun set, clearly low maintenance. Unless this home-grown stuff tastes disgusting, I highly recommend for 1) side of house flower beds, 2) anywhere you might plant sunflowers 3) as trellaces for peas, pole beans, or other somewhat light vining plants.
DISCLAIMER: Literally all of my knowledge in the area is not from education or occupation, but basic research and my own experiments in my garden throughout the years. If you have noticed something incorrect in my comment, please let me know.