CULINARY INFO Millet

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Millet includes several members of the grass family, Graminae, such as bread millet, or broomcorn, Panicum miliaceum; pearl millet, Pennisetum americanum; and foxtail millet, Setaria italica. It is grown as a major food grain in Africa and Asia. Millet seeds grow on long spikes, or panicles, at the ends of stalks that range in height from 0.3 to 3 m (1 to 10 ft). The strongly flavoured grain is ground and eaten as porridge or in flat breads. Because millet will grow in relatively infertile soil, has a high tolerance to drought, and matures in only 6 to 12 weeks, it is widely cultivated a food crop in less developed agricultural regions. World production of millet in 1990 exceeded 30 million metric tons.