Category: millet processing

Know Millets Webinars 2020, Session # 04

Processing is a crucial step in accessing the nutrition that millets offer. In this webinar, we shall discuss the types of millets, their characteristics that come in handy when processing, and the principles of processing. We shall take a quick peek into machines and discuss some of the challenges in processing millets.

An audio visual guide to Community Scale Small Millet Processing

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw4jroI0AKyC9avNj1fLKQc78UWAr8sVj Here are a series of short clips giving a brief overview of community scale small millet processing. This was put together in 2016 for the DHAN Foundation and the Small Millets Foundation with support from IDRC, Canada.

Why is the bran so rich in nutrients?

The grains that we grow, harvest and eat as cereals are produced by the plants as their next generation. Observing the cereal grains from this perspective helps us better understand and appreciate the structure and nutritional composition in the grains. As mentioned in the earlier posting discussing the structure of a husked millet grain, the … Continue reading Why is the bran so rich in nutrients?

Dehusking small millets – its what we retain that matters

Cereal grains that we eat in the form of rice have a husk that we cannot digest. We need to remove this outer most layer to bring it to a form where as much of the nutrition in the grain is made accessible to our bodies. This process of removing the husk is called dehusking, … Continue reading Dehusking small millets – its what we retain that matters

Grading in community scale small millet processing

Millets are cultivated predominantly as rain fed crops. They are known to be fairly hardy and can survive long dry spells and fare reasonably well even when there is too much rain. Their hardiness allows for farmers to cultivate these crops with minimum inputs and efforts. Small millet crops do not require the field to … Continue reading Grading in community scale small millet processing

Steps in small millet processing

Like any grain processing, small millet processing involves three primary tasks: Size Grading Density Grading Hulling (also referred to as dehusking) An eccentric or vibrating grader is used to achieve size grading, a destoner is used for density grading and an impact or shear huller is used for hulling. Most people talking about millet processing invariably focus … Continue reading Steps in small millet processing

Lets call it bleached rice, not polished rice

I was lucky to have had the opportunity to spend a good part of a day a couple of weeks ago with an amazing group of students and faculty from Massey University, New Zealand. They were traveling through south India on a study tour - trying to understand how Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurship is … Continue reading Lets call it bleached rice, not polished rice