Teff: The Ethiopian’s Gluten-Free Gift For The Rest Of The World!

This article is compelled from different people's point of view about Teff. The Ethiopian’s Gluten-Free Gift For The Rest Of The World!

Part of the allure of Ethiopian cuisine is dining without utensils. In place of spoons and forks, Ethiopians use injera—a spongy crepe used to grab each bite.

Injera is made from a grain called teff, which has been cultivated in Ethiopia for at least 3,000 years. This grain was once grown exclusively in East Africa, but now the rest of the world is taking a closer look.

The first thing you notice about teff is its size. The word teff means “lost,” referring to a grain that is so tiny it could easily vanish. This means that it cooks quickly, but it can also lead to confusion for those who aren’t familiar with it.

“The teff grain is so super tiny that I’ve heard of people grabbing the wrong product off the shelf, thinking that they were getting flour and realizing it was intact grains when they got back,” said Cynthia Harriman, director of food and nutrition strategies at the Whole Grains Council.

Despite its smallness, teff is big on nutrition. It is an excellent source of essential amino acids, including lysine, which is usually absent from grains, and rich with minerals such as magnesium, zinc, and calcium.

“All whole grains have some calcium, but teff is kind of off the charts,” Harriman said. “One cup of teff has about the same calcium as a half cup of cooked spinach.”

Teff’s other big draw is that it is gluten-free—a necessity for those looking to avoid gluten. While many Americans have developed a taste for injera, teff can also fill a role in less exotic baked goods. Unlike other whole grains, teff has a mild flavor that easily lends itself to familiar American foods, such as tortillas, pasta, pancake mixes, and cookies.

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The majority of Ethiopian food is served with injera, the biggest staple food of the country. Injera is a soft, flat, spongy bread. It can be made with several different types of grain, and therefore can have several different colors and flavors. Usually, it has a tangy, slightly sour taste, but it is not an overpowering flavor at all. Injera is usually served with several different wots. The traditional dish of Ethiopia is the wot, which is a mixture of meats, vegetables, spices and sauces. Wots are usually spicy, but there is such a wide variety of wots and some are not spicy. Injera is rolled into a sheet and the wots are served directly on top of it. This way the injera is serving as a plate and a utensil.

Ethiopian cuisine is one of the world's best kept secrets. Ethiopian food is an exotically spicy mix of vegetables, slow-simmered meat or grain stews, and fresh meat sautés.

Ethiopian dishes are prepared with a distinctive variety of unique spices, which lend an unforgettably striking dimension to its exotic cookery. Grains like millet, sorghum, wheat and ancient teff , a tiny round grain closely resembling millet, form the basic breadstuffs of the diet. Most farming in Ethiopia is subsistence, so the vegetables and animals are often grown and raised at home. The ancient practice of beekeeping produces exquisite honey. It is fermented to make tej, the Ethiopian honey wine.

Essential components of Ethiopian cooking are berbere, a spicy red pepper paste, niter kibbeh, a spice-infused clarified butter, and injera. Injera, the sourdough pancake-like bread of Ethiopia, is made from a fermented sourdough teff batter - in this way, it has a slightly tangy flavor and a wonderful light and airy texture. Most traditional dishes have a stewy consistency. Alicha indicates a mild stew while Wots are stews with the spicy flavor of berberé. Sautéed meats add to the variety of a meal.

Dining in Ethiopia is characterized by sharing food from a common plate, signifying the bonds of loyalty, family, and friendship. The traditional Ethiopian meal is served on a large platter that is draped with the crepe-like injera bread, with the selection of foods decoratively arranged around the center dish. To eat, diners simply tear off a piece of injera, use it to scoop up some of the various dishes and pop it in their mouths. Extra injera is usually served on the side. Honey wine, beer or telba, a flaxseed drink, are served as beverages.

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