sorghum , also known in English as broomcorn or milo, is a drought-tolerant grass of the same subfamily as corn, millet, and sugar cane whose stalks and seeds are both used to make spirits. Sorghum bicolor is widely cultivated as a cereal crop in Africa and Asia and used as animal feed in many other regions. It has tall sugar-rich stalks topped with dense clusters of starchy kernels, dark red or yellowish white in color.
Pressing sorghum stalks and boiling its juice creates syrup, which can be distilled into so-called sorghum whisky. Though it is actually closer to rum in character, lack of sugar cane in the production process prevents its official classification as such. Historically, sorghum rum was made in places as far afield as Australia and Sicily, but its current heartland is the southern United States (although it must be labeled “whisky,” “rum” being legally limited to sugar cane products).
In Africa, sorghum is malted and brewed to create several traditional beers, and elsewhere sorghum beer is gaining traction as a gluten-free product. Though sorghum behaves much like barley in malting, it has higher gelatinization temperatures, and its tannins can interfere with starch breakdown if not neutralized.
The sorghum kernel is most frequently distilled in China, where as much as 90 percent of domestic sorghum—and much more imported from elsewhere—is used in baijiu production. Baijiu distillers pulverize and steam sorghum kernels to aid gelatinization before initiating fermentation with naturally harvested yeast cultures, or qu. See Qu. Distillers work with several species of sorghum: non-waxy varieties have more protein and starch, but waxy varieties gelatinize more readily and yield more alcohol. Following distillation, baijiu mash is recycled for further fermentation, sometimes with the addition of fresh grain, or used as animal feed. Sorghum has a naturally bitter taste, but once distilled it becomes fruitier with a complex, somewhat nutty aroma.
Smith, Wayne C., and Richard A. Fredericksen, eds. Sorghum: Origin, History, Technology, and Production. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
Taylor, John R. N., Tilman J. Schober, and Scott R. Bean. “Novel Food and Non-food Uses for Sorghum and Millets.” Journal of Cereal Science 44 (2006): 252–271.
By: Derek Sandhaus