In Italy, La Veronese Takes a Liking to Sorghum

Molino e Riseria Martini, the company which carries the La Veronese brand specialises in grain processing. Since 2015, it has taken an interest in sorghum. With two production plants and specialising in gluten-free and GMO-free products, the company manufactures a range of products (raw/jellified flour or flakes) that has seduced industry operators and individual consumers alike.

Created in 1930, the Italian company of Molino e Riseria Martini started as a producer of rice and corn flour and flakes, until a few decades later, it specialised in gluten-free and GMO-free products – which has set it apart from all other agrifood companies to this day.
In the early 2000s, Molino e Riseria Martini became interested in sorghum. “Throughout our trialling, our objective was to select varieties that would be more adapted to the end product profiles that our customers were looking for”, Massimiliano Carraro, head of the company, explains. Just like corn varieties, sorghum varieties contain more or less protein and more or less starch, and can be flinty or floury. These differences influence the quality of the end food product and they are the reason why a commodity should be carefully thought out and structured as early as its field establishment.

Consumers’ expectations have also evolved through the years – whether it is texture, grain size or other. Sorghum is now one of the grains that is most appreciated by customers. This is especially true for the persons who are allergic to nickel and/or intolerant to saponins – these natural detergents and emulsifiers produced by some plants. Sorghum has also seduced customers interested in buying gluten-, additive-, and binder-, free pasta, flour, or flakes. To achieve that goal, La Veronese uses jellifying. Under the effect of heat, starch molecules swell, then break up and become jellified, as a result of the structural change in their links. That allows one to create a structure that is similar to the one that would be obtained by adding gluten. And this is done without changing the taste, texture or colour of the flour.

Multiple Uses

“Our sorghum comes from either Italian or EU industries and is organic or not, depending on our customers’ specifications and the image that they wish to project through the labels of their products”, Massimiliano Carraro continues. We also do sorghum grain dehulling. This process secures better digestibility and no fermentation – two aspects that are very much looked for by persons suffering from SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), whose numbers are increasing globally.”
Since 2015, La Veronese has been supplying pasta and biscuit manufacturers with raw materials, whilst also supplying grains and flour to retailers. “This cereal has a neutral taste, good nutritional value, and a sustainable production process. These are all assets that deserve to be known even better within the food industry” Massimiliano Carraro ends.

Molino e Riseria Martini is located in Italy. Its oldest plant is in Vigasio (Verona) and the new one in Castelbelforte (Mantua). Its main customers are pasta manufacturers, bakers, and other retailers and processors. Its annual production totals about 40 000 tons, of which about 500 tons of sorghum flour.

Website : https://laveronese.com/
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