in the karnataka/maharashtra regions, it is staple diet.
jowar rotis are served as fancy fare in upmarket region restaurants, but it is the source of survival for the dry-land farmers in interior deccan regions.
it is certainly the prettiest of all the millets :-)
the grain head is the largest among the millet family. and is almost a piece of art.
here is a close up of the variety we have sowed. we used it as an intercrop (with not great results) with varagu.
mesmerised by the beauty of the grain head, the locals call it 'alangara chozham' - ornamental sorghum.
there are other varieties with a much denser head. notice in this pic.
it is also called 'Great Millet'.
now you know why.
2 comments:
csm,
does the cholam have red husk, the traditional variety (nattu cholam or country cholam)? is this variety used as food, or as fodder? any disadvantages to using this variety as food?
a - yes. we planted 2 varieties. one with red husk and one with black.
they come with an assortment of names including irumbu cholam/naattu cholam/alangara cholam (so far).
they are quite different from the ones i saw in gujarat and in pics from DDS.
we are planning to have this as food. we have earlier eaten it by cooking along with rice (rice:cholam = 70:30).
tastes very good. it takes much longer to cook and hence needs to be soaked a bit and then added to the boiling water first and then the rice.
our thatha said that you could make a koozhu a la kezhvaragu with cholam maavu. and of course there is the rotis.
so, there is a lot of advantage to use this as food.
Post a Comment