Cereal Chem 68:25-30   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Properties of New and Commercial Sorghum Hybrids for Use in Alkaline-Cooked Foods.

H. D. Almeida-Dominguez, S. O. Serna-Saldivar, and L. W. Rooney. Copyright 1991 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Twelve sorghums with different grain characteristics were cooked in lime, steeped for 5 hr, washed, and stone-ground into masa. Masa was sheeted, formed, and baked into tortillas. Nixtamal with 49-54% moisture content was acceptable for stone grinding, when water was added during grinding to produce masas with 56-59% moisture. Masas had adequate machinability and produced acceptable table tortillas. Tortillas weighed 25-29 g with 45-49% moisture. All fresh, nonwaxy tortillas had acceptable texture. However, waxy sorghum produced sticky masa and tortillas. The average conversion ratio of grain to tortillas was 1.5 kg of fresh tortillas per kilogram of raw grain. Dorado, Sureno, and Tortillero from Central America and hybrids ATX631 x TX435 and ATX631 x TX8505 from Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. College Station, gave tortillas with the best color and texture. Sorghums with tan plant color like Dorado and Sureno produced while tortillas, whereas ATX631 x TX435 and ATX631 x TX8505 produced yellow tortillas. Soft sorghums (Dorado and Maicillos Criollos) had the shortest optimum cooking times. White sorghums differed in cooking characteristics, but most produced tortillas with acceptable color and texture.