June is National Sorghum Month, so let’s look at some fun facts about this multi-facetted grain:
- The earliest evidence of sorghum was found in Nabta Playa, an 8,000-year-old Neolithic site in Africa.
- In 1757, Benjamin Franklin wrote about using sorghum to make brooms. This is the first known record of sorghum in the U.S.
- Sorghum ranks fifth among the most important cereal crops of the world, after wheat, rice, corn, and barley.
- Only six inches of water is needed to produce a 56-pould bushel (water from the soil, rainfall and/or irrigation)!
- There are four main types of sorghum: grain, forage, biomass, and sweet.
- Sorghum syrup is made from sweet sorghum, and it can be used in place of corn syrup, honey, molasses, and other sweeteners.
- The U.S. is the top producer of sorghum in the world. Kansas is the top producing state, followed by Texas, South Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
- About 30-35 percent of domestic sorghum is used for ethanol production. 2.7 gallons of ethanol can be made from just one bushel!
- Some varieties of sorghum have greater antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties than blueberries and pomegranates.
- Sorghum is gluten-free.
- About one-third of our sorghum is used for livestock feed. It is also used in many pet food products, and as aquatic feed.
- Some starches that are used to make adhesives and paper, are derived from sorghum.
If you are looking for a new snack, try popping some sorghum tonight. It is just like popcorn, only smaller.
