Get a taste for teff, the Ethiopian superfood

The grain is hot on the heels of other 'super foods' such as the acai berry. Here are a couple of suggestions on how to use itFood that's sourced well usually tends to taste good too. Maybe that's why so many food lovers go out of their way to sample ingredients from developing countries, looking for authenticity and a worthy way of spending their grocery money.Teff, the highly nutritionous grain from Ethiopia, is the latest of these so-called super foods. Its popularity could help to boost the country's food security and export earnings.To take an earlier example, it is said that the rise of the acai berry – a "superfruit" espoused by Oprah Winfrey – has transformed the economy of the Amazon state of Pará, creating thousands of jobs.Recently, I went to the highlands of Colombia to witness an attempt to take a traditional crop and target it at US and European markets. It could pull poor hill-farmers in the Andes out of poverty (or the need to grow coca), and the company producing it runs its factories with a policy of giving work to single mothers. Goldenberries are the dried fruit of a plant more commonly known as the cape gooseberry – high in potassium, fibre and antioxidants they have found a niche on the lucrative health-food shelves as a "superfruit".For those who care more about tackling poverty than middle-class health worries, the important thing is that goldenberries resist industrialisation. To farm the bushes you need patience and your hands – their branch...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Nutrition theguardian.com Blogposts Food security World news Food poverty & drink Recipes Ethiopia Life and style Global development Africa Nutrition and development Source Type: news