There’s always a lot of kerfuffle on line and in print media around the latest superfoods and the last few years have seen an explosion of enthusiasm for cooking with ancient grains. There were lists of reasons you should be eating ancient grains, lists of the best ancient grains to eat and articles outlining the health benefits of ancient grains. They were touted far and wide as the ‘new superfood’ but what struck me most about it was that word ‘ancient’ – these are no new thing, no interloper in the larder, these grains have been eaten by humans for thousands of years, they’ve proved their worth! Many of them played a role in the recipes I remember from childhood summers with my Granny;  Barley, Buckwheat and Millet ran through my fingers as I weighed them out before she turned them into delicious soups and stews. Other grains like Quinoa from the Incas, Amaranth from the Aztecs are newer to our cupboards.

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Cooking with Ancient Grains – Teff

Over the coming months I’ll be featuring recipes using familiar and not so familiar grains, focussing on cooking with ancient grains, mainly because I love them and finding ingredients which are new to me and incorporating them into my recipes makes me happy! I’m kicking off this week with a recipe using Teff. Teff is a tiny little grain which packs a huge punch, it is a staple ingredient in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine where it is essential in the cooking of injera flatbreads. It is rich in iron and calcium as well as being gluten free and very tasty! Today’s recipe uses nutty tasting teff to make a delicious, simple chocolatey porridge with fresh fruit – perfect for breakfast as the autumn gets under way. If you’re quick you can catch the end of blueberry season and some lovely fresh autumn raspberries to top it off with!

Teff is available in Holland and Barrett and some independent whole food stores – don’t confuse the grain with teff flour which is used in bread making.

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