Cereal Chem 60:263 - 268.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Cooking Characteristics of Sorghum and Corn for Tortilla Preparation by Several Cooking Methods.

S. Bedolla, M. G. de Palacios, L. W. Rooney, K. C. Diehl, and M. N. Khan. Copyright 1983 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Various methods of cooking affected the total dry matter lost during the processing of corn and sorghum into tortillas. However, within a cooking method, the total dry matter losses were the same for sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and corn (Zea mays L.) when each grain was cooked for its optimum time. Unpearled and pearled sorghum required only one third and one sixth the cooking time of corn, respectively. The chemical composition of grain, nixtamal, masa, and tortillas made from unpearled white sorghum or white corn was similar, except that the corn products had more ether extract. The sorghum tortillas, however, were greenish yellow compared to those from white corn. The greenish yellow color disappeared when 13% of the initial kernel weight was removed by pearling, and the tortillas thus resembled white corn tortillas. For pearled sorghums, the cooking time and the alkali concentration were reduced considerably to control the stickiness of masa. Because sticky masa cannot be formed into tortillas with the commercial equipment available, several procedures to prevent stickiness are suggested. Larger amounts of sorghum and pearled sorghum could be substituted for yellow corn than for white corn. Tortillas made by substituting white or red pearled sorghum for 80% of yellow corn were better accepted by panel members than the 100% yellow corn tortillas. Mexican taste-panel members preferred white tortillas, whereas U.S. consumers preferred yellow. The manipulation of the cooking conditions, the pearling level, and the ratios of corn to sorghum can lead to effective utilization of sorghum, alone or blended with corn for tortillas.