New grain alert

There’s a teeny tiny new grain alert on the rise in Australia and it goes by the name of teff. The ancient wholegrain has been a staple in Ethiopian cooking for centuries and it’s at the centre of a CSIRO, Food Innovation Australia (FIAL) and Outback Harvest project.

Teff is the world’s smallest new grain alert —it’s smaller than a poppy seed—and it can be used to bake cakes, muffins and even bread. The fibre content in teff is several times higher than in wheat and rice, and it contains the fermentable fibre resistant starch.

“It definitely ticks a lot of the healthy food boxes,” nutritionist Dr Michelle Crawford told Good Food.

NSW Riverina farmers, Fraser McNaul and father Shane McNaul, started growing teff after deciding a couple of years ago to diversify their cropping program. “A couple of years ago we started looking around and we came across teff,” says Fraser. The McNauls planted two varieties of teff, brown and ivory.

Teff’s growing season is between December and March, which fits in between the McNauls’ usual crops of wheat, barley, oats and rice. They started a company, Outback Harvest, and approached CSIRO to help them develop Australian-grown teff-baked goods and extruded snacks.

“With CSIRO’s expertise in food innovation and new product development, they produced prototype muffins, bread and dry cake mixes,” Fraser said. 


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