WHAT CEREALS DO NOT CONTAIN GLUTEN ?: MILLET

Millet, from the family of grasses or poaceae, is a cereal from warm climates such as India or Niger. It is cultivated around the world and is considered as the first domesticated cereal cultivated in East Asia for about 10,000 years,  also used in some areas of Europe in the stone age.

Millet, a very digestive and gluten-free cereal

Millet is a very digestive cereal,  has no gluten, is remineralizing and harmonizing our ability to digest and assimilate. Some of its varieties most consumed are:

• Pearl millet ( pennisetum glaucum ): is the most cultivated type of millet that produces larger seeds. It has been cultivated in Africa and in India since prehistoric times. It is currently the main food in Nigeria and widely consumed in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Namibia, mainly in the form of fermented beverages and porridge.
• Foxtail ( s etaria italiana or panicum italicum): is the second most cultivated species of millet, and the most important in East Asia. It is known to have been domesticated for the first time in China around 6,000 BC, is the most consumed millet in China.
• Common millet ( panicum miliaceum ): its use has been known for 7000 years in the Caucasus area and in China. It is currently cultivated in China, India, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, Turkey, Romania and organic crops in Europe.
• Ragi ( eleusine coracana ) : also known as finger millet or African millet, is extraordinarily rich in Calcium (350 mg / 100 gr). Native to Ethiopia and introduced in India about 4000 years ago. In India,  millet ragi flour is used to make "rotis" (bread pancakes), in soups, in the form of noodles, sweets (halwa, sideos), crackers, pancakes, And porridge for breakfast.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

In Traditional Chinese Medicine:

• It is a cereal that harmonizes the average superheater: it  regulates the functions of the spleen and the stomach of transport and transformation, helping to improve and regulate the digestive processes.
• Helps remove excess moisture * 
• Indicated in: digestive problems, intestinal parasites, sticky mucus, mental tiredness, physical weakness.

In Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine:

• It is sweet, warm, dry and light.
• It is used as a moisture eliminator that can result from eating other heavier grains such as wheat.
• It is used in the treatment for diabetes, excess weight , and if left to soak and then skip it is considered a cereal tridóshico, that is, suitable to nourish all constitutions.
• Increase digestive fire
• Helps eliminate excess toxins

Noticeable nutritional properties

• It is rich in minerals such as iron, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and zinc.
• Contains healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats; Provides essential fatty acids, linoleic acid and linolenic acid.
• Source of B vitamins
• It contains  phytochemicals : phenolic acids, tannins, lignans, β-glucan, inulin, phytates, sterols, vit and dietary fiber and carotenoids. Phenolic acids and phytates have been shown to reduce the risk of colon and breast cancer in animals.

Health Effects

• Millet contributes to regulate blood glucose : millet phenolic compounds reduce postprandial hyperglycemia.
• Antioxidant activity : of phytates, phenols and tannins.
• Millet has  antifungal activity  against certain fungi, is suitable for people with candidiasis .
• It is useful in cases of diarrhea (toasted).

Bociogenic effects

It contains small amounts of goitrogenic substances  that limit the absorption of iodine into the thyroid. By cooking, we can reduce or eliminate this effect, and people with thyroid problems should limit their intake.

Methods of preparation of millet

•  Before : first wash it well, until the water is clear. Secondly it is advisable to let it soak to reduce the content of antinutrients  and thus improve its digestibility and bioavailability of its minerals and proteins.

• Boiled: it is necessary to simmer it, in 2 or 3 measures of water for 1 of millet for about 30 minutes.

• Toasted or sautéed  with vegetables, we will obtain a millet more loose and tasty. (After toasting or sautéing we will add water or hot broth)

• To elaborate fillings: when it is boiled and allowed to cool a compact mass is formed very useful in the elaboration of foods like hamburgers and croquettes or cakes.

• In the form of a cream: boiled with more water and / or vegetable drink for 40 min-1h, on low heat and if we want with raisins, lemon peel and cinnamon, it is a reconstituent food, easy to digest and provides nutrition and heat. * Cream of Indian breakfast: in India the porridge of millet are made in the southern part of India. The millet is soaked, dried in the shade, then roasted and ground. This preparation is boiled in water, milk or yogurt becoming a cream used as "porridge" for children.

• The millet flour can produce all kinds of sweet recipes (muffins, cookies, cakes, pancakes) and bread, in this case mixed with other flours to acquire volume.

• Millet flakes : you can use them as a base for muesli, pancakes, cookies.

• Fermented : the millet can be fermented  reducing the levels of antinutrients and thus improved the bioavailability of its proteins and its digestibility. Once fermented it can be used as a mass of pancakes, croquettes or to make drinks or creams for breakfast.

• The millet amasake: it  is a sweet and fermented cream, elaborated according to the Japanese tradition with koji. It can be taken as a dessert, to cook sweets, to make smoothies or to add fruit. It is used to help regulate blood glucose and to provide a healthy and digestive sweetness.

Recipes with millet

• Millet couscous and buckwheat with vegetables and tofu
• Apple pie, millet and hazelnut
• Milk and Azuki Burger
• Millet cake

* Humidity in Chinese medicine: climatic energy that can obstruct the correct function of bodily processes and cause : fluid retention, swelling, sticky secretions, poor mental clarity among other symptoms.