Cultivate a stunning and versatile addition to your garden!
Grain sorghum is an ancient cereal that was a staple in ancient Egypt. The origins of this tall-growing grass are in both Asia and Africa. Growing to a height of 9 to 10 feet, white African sorghum is a dual-purpose grain and syrup sorghum that yields white seeds partially encased in a black glume.
As a grain, sorghum can be ground into flour and used to make loaves without gluten, flatbreads, and other baked goods.
The plant's ability to retain water is aided by the waxy coating on its leaves, which is advantageous during certain seasons, particularly in hot climates. It can be ground into grits or cooked whole and consumed like rice or couscous.
Sorghum cane can be used as a sweetener by pressing it into a delightful fresh juice that can be fermented into alcohol or cooked down into syrup. White African sorghum may grow in tough situations where other plants usually do not thrive because of its remarkable tolerance to drought.
Growing Instructions: Sorghum is planted with equal spacing to corn.
(See the section on corn.) Plant seeds 1/2–3/4 in. profound.
Harvesting Seeds: When the seed stem begins to dry out, the seed is ready to be harvested. Trim the stalk, let it dry more under cover, then manually remove the seeds and winnow to make it clean.
You can use grain sorghum just like flour corn. It works particularly well on pancakes.
flour
Harvesting Syrup: Remove the leaves in the fall, then chop the cane into manageable lengths. Then, crush the cane and squeeze out the juice into a saucepan. Once the liquid has reduced to the consistency of maple syrup, cook it. We prefer to cultivate a small patch of cane sorghum for munching; the luscious canes can be peeled and consumed like candy.
Seed Savers: Set apart from other Sudan grass, broom corn, sorghum, and grass for half a mile.
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