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Sorghum: a climate-smart crop for gluten-free products
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1  CREA Research Center for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, via Manziana 30, 00189, Rome, Italy
Academic Editor: Manuel Viuda-Martos

Abstract:

The unpredictable effects of climate events are threatening global food security. The use of climate-smart crops could represent a valuable agronomic resilience strategy. In this context, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a C4 photosynthetic cycle cereal characterized by more efficient use of water, making it more tolerant to heat stress and drought. This species may offer a viable alternative to other spring–summer cereals, such as maize, contributing to achieving both the goals of abiotic stress tolerance and environmental sustainability. Interest in sorghum for human consumption, food-grade sorghum, has increased in recent years, with it being a gluten-free cereal rich in bioactive compounds, mainly polyphenols. In this regard, the aim of the SOUL project was the development of a sorghum supply chain for human consumption in Central Italy. This work presents the results of the nutritional and technological characterization of the food-grade sorghum hybrid ‘Artista’, grown in the experimental fields of CREA, and its processing into bread, biscuits and malt. Innovative technological approaches involving the combined application of different processes, namely debranning, parbolization, micronization and air-fractionation, were used in order to obtain wholemeal flours with reduced grittiness, which is typical of milled sorghum products. The results indicated that sorghum bread and biscuits showed satisfactory sensorial acceptability and good nutritional value, mainly in terms of total antioxidant capacity and total dietary fiber, when compared to other gluten-free products. Similarly, malted kernels had increased polyphenol and proanthocyanidin contents with respect to unmalted grains. Sorghum could constitute a promising raw material for enhancing agro-food biodiversity and meeting the growing market demand for sustainable and healthy gluten-free products.

Keywords: food-grade sorghum; gluten-free; agro-food biodiversity
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