Sorghum-based Beverages – Would You Take another Glass?

This autumn saw the market launch of the first beverage made of dehulled, 100 percent organic, sorghum. The product is out on the market in Italy and has been developed by Materviva SpA, in cooperation with researcher Monia Caramma.

Mix water, sorghum, and a little bit of salt and you will get a pleasant, slightly sweet beverage, with a nice hazelnut flavour and optimal viscosity. The recipe has been developed by an Italian company – MatervivaSpA – and it has been on the market since November 2024, under the Salvia brand. Sorghum accounts for 15 percent of the mixture. “But it is not just any sorghum”, Monia Caramma (sustainable food researcher, who took part in the procurement of the crop) specifies. “It is an organic, dehulled, Italian sorghum, whose chains of production and processing are entirely backed by traceability.”

No Thickeners, No Additives

The beverage is based on an innovative process, of which one stage is gelatinization. “The process consists in bringing the grains to a high temperature through superheated steam exposure, which changes their starch and protein structure. This allows us to avoid using thickeners or additives”, Monia Caramma explains. “This is a characteristic that consumers are looking for a lot, as they have become more and more health-conscious. Today’s consumers tend to avoid beverages containing seed oils – particularly sunflower seed oil – because of the Omega 3 – Omega 6 imbalance. Although many processors include artificial flavours in their recipes and thickeners such as xanthan, guar, or carob, the consumers don’t want them.”

An Organic, Good, and Sustainable Beverage

To MatervivaSpA, label transparency is vital – namely, ensuring the traceability of the ingredients. “This allows consumers to make informed decisions”, Monia Caramma emphasizes. “We get our sorghum from local farmers, to help develop local agriculture and we benefit from their know-how, in the process”. As to the type of sorghum chosen for the recipe, Monia points out that sorghum grains are good for one’s health because of their low nickel content – which is a plus to people who are allergic or intolerant to nickel. Another aspect that is not negligible is that the crop does not require a lot of water and inputs and is therefore environment-friendly – “by contrast to almonds, which require significant amounts of nitrogen and water”, she explains. “As to coconut-based beverages, it is the transport cost (and therefore the carbon emissions) as well as the massive use of pesticides that are often pointed to as shortcomings. Rice or oats require high amounts of sugar. We can therefore say that of all plant-based beverages, the sorghum ones stand out as the most sustainable”, she concludes.

www.materviva.it

www.salviafood.it 

Bellula : https://www.salviafood.it/categoria/cosmesi-e-linea-benessere/