Did you know the smallest grain in the world was Teff from Ethopia.It is Millet-like but in no way related.Teff in Amharic means,’lost‘,it dissapears when handled but can also be carried easily around even in a pocket.
Teff is so small that seven would sit on a needlehead.It measures 1/32 of an inch in diameter and 150 grains would weigh as much as a grain of wheat.It’s color is ivory,light tan to deep brown or dark reddish brown purple depending on variety.The lighter variety taste like chestnut while the darker ones are like hazelnut.Teff is high in protien, carbohyderates and fiber and no gluten.The bulk og grain consists of barn and germ,making it very high on clacium content,phosphrous,iron, copper, aluminum, barium and thiamin.It also has excellent content of of aminoacid and high compostion of lysine levels.
Teff seeds were found in the ruins of Dassur pyramid of Egypt, dating back to around 3,359 BCE.It has been eaten in the form of a large pancake or Indian dosa, cooked on a flate big iron plate like in Tapanyaki cooking.The Enjera can keep for days and often the more sour the better, women too find it easier to manage because they dont have to cook every day. It is eaten with cooked vegetables or meat stew in the centre.Dinners would sit it around and eat communally. Ethopians had for long solely depended on it , without much need for contact or trade with the rest of world.The famous famine changed all that and remember Bob Geldof’s concert , We Are The World to raise funds ,set the image of Ethopians as poor and starving .
