How to Eat Sorghum Rice: A Detailed Guide to Home-Style Methods Such as Cooking Porridge, Steaming Rice and Grinding Flour

Sorghum rice is the grain obtained after sorghum is hulled, and it is one of the common coarse grains in northern China. By color, it can be roughly divided into red sorghum rice and white sorghum rice, among others. Its texture is slightly chewy and it has a faint, light grain aroma, and it is often used to make porridge, steam rice or grind into flour. Because red sorghum rice has a relatively higher tannin content, it tastes a little astringent, which can be reduced somewhat after soaking.

The most common way to eat sorghum rice is as porridge. Before cooking, soak it in clean water for a few hours so the grains fully absorb water, and the resulting porridge will be softer and more glutinous. You can also combine sorghum rice with white rice, millet or beans to steam rice; mixing coarse and fine grains not only makes the taste richer but also allows the nutrients to complement each other.

Besides making porridge and steamed rice, sorghum rice can also be ground into sorghum flour and used to make staple foods such as steamed cakes, wowotou (steamed cornbread) and noodles, which is a traditional coarse-grain way of eating in many regions. In some places, sorghum rice is also added to eight-treasure porridge or sweet soup and cooked together, giving different flavors; in summer, letting the cooked sorghum rice porridge cool before eating is also very refreshing.

It should be noted that the outer skin of sorghum rice contains a lot of crude fiber, so people with weak digestive function should not eat too much at one time; it is recommended to pair it with other grains and eat it in small amounts more often. When buying, choose products with plump grains, no insect damage and no off odor, and after taking them home, store them sealed in a cool, dry place.