It’s not often that you take a bite of what might be an answer to a lot of problems, but the Grocery Trader team experienced that at a secret breakfast the other week with an engaging advocate of an ancient grain and founder of a new brand which will be hitting shelves in August.
Although we can’t reveal the new brand just yet – but keep an eye on our home page, what I can say is that it’s very different to what’s available now, and it certainly has a mighty crunch!
When looking out for something new or an ‘innovation’ it’s the health or ethnic aisles that are often worth exploring; it’s probably fair to say that cereals not so – but this could all change within months.
It’s not something new however, in fact its older than old, ancient in fact, centred on the ancient grain called millets.
For such a small grain there are big things going on with it. It’s the UN year of the Millet; the UN and others are on a mission to promote cultivation of this special grain.
One of the reasons, is the belief that it could be a solution to climate and global food security challenges. A pretty big concept to grasp, particularly at breakfast, but that’s exactly what we’ve just done.
A big concept for a small bowl
Our millet-based breakfast was unusually crunchy; even after 20 minutes in a milky pool, it had a tasty crunch. The pack was also pretty stylish, so promises much needed stand out on shelf – but above all, there was a sense of satisfaction from understanding more about the ‘why’ of the UN’s mission.
The benefit of millets comes from where they are grown and how they are grown.
A staple of many Indian and African diets, millets have high nutrition value, they are often tagged “Nutri-Cereals” which take us into more familiar ground. As a grain, they have environmental benefits too, and amidst conversation of global warming and food scarcity, this is not a benefit to be taken lightly.
It’s linked to where they can grow. Being carbon rich, they’re good for the soil and can grow in conditions that many other crops can’t tolerate, they need significantly less water than other cereals which means that they can be grown in often poorer, hot drought areas, bringing income to farmers struggling against poverty.
But back to the secret breakfast and why I’m making news from it. The reality is that cultivation of Millets has declined in favour of more trendy cereals and general awareness of the grain is limited – so I met with the company on a mission to change this.
What they’re offering is certainly different and could become the next big thing in cereals, in much the same way as quinoa took off in the 2006. We will see come September when it first appears on shelf, but the challenge for now is to get this quiet innovation noticed, and the company’s quest to bring this ancient grain to the notice of the breakfast tables of Britain heard.
For us, the attraction we feel is not only that’s it’s a new product worth trying, but it’s something that could just be generally good food for you, the planet and the soul. A sentimental lift we could all do with.
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