Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In African countries, maize is prepared in four main types of dishes: beverages,
porridges, dumplings, and baked or fried products. A typical beverage is maize beer,
known as Kenkey and Mahewu in South Africa. Porridges have a water content of
about 90 percent and are soups or have a gruel consistency. One example is Ogi con-
sumed in Nigeria. Dumplings only have 65 to 80 percent moisture and are often formed
into rough balls. Flour is mixed with water to form balls like Eko (Nigeria) or Tˆ
(Mali).
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Baked or fried products include the fermented leavened bread consumed as
Injera in Ethiopia or Lakiri in Ghana.
Uses of sorghum grain vary with the country and culture. Industrial processing
methods closely follow those of maize. Methods of processing in homes or shops of
developing countries seem to be more varied. Sugary or high-lysine sorghum grain is
used in the immature stage in India and Ethiopia as a roasted product. Many cultures
in Asia and Africa simply boil the dry grains to be eaten similar to rice or bulgur. In
some cases, the grain is pearled (polished to remove the hull and tannin) and then
boiled. Popping varieties, similar to maize, have been developed and are popular in
India. Fermentation is practiced in most countries where sorghum is grown. Partial fer-
mentation is used to form a locally preferred food, or fermentation that is more com-
plete will produce beer. Bread can be produced from the milled grain. Mixing yeast
with the dough will produce a type of loaf bread, while flat breads are made without
yeast. Nearly all countries that produce sorghum use the grain in some type of porridge.
This is made from flour that is boiled to form a stiff porridge.
3.2.12 Genetically Modified Maize and Sorghum
Maize has been extensively modified by natural and human selection. The latest modi-
fications have been direct changes in the genetic makeup of the maize plant to give it
specific characteristics to make its cultivation easier and more profitable. A more com-
plete discussion of these changes will be presented in Chapter 12.
Sorghum has also been modified by nature and humans, but to a somewhat lesser
extent. It has also been the subject of changes in the genetic makeup, but to a lesser
degree than maize.
3.3
WHEAT AND BARLEY PRODUCTION
Wheat
Latin Name: Triticum aestivum
Other English Names: Bread wheat, common wheat, durum wheat, English wheat,
German wheat, red wheat, soft wheat, spring wheat, white wheat, winter
wheat
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Barley
Latin Name: Hordeum vulgare
Other English Names: Barleycorn, two-rowed barley, six-rowed barley, naked
barley, Scotch barley
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