2-25 IAT What is Teff

 What is teff?

 I was reading an article in the Idaho Statesman  recently and the headline was Teff, an African grain, is a crop growing successfully in Idaho. Once solely grown in Ethiopia’s rugged highlands, teff is popping up in the windswept fields of America’s heartland. Well one of those windswept fields is over in Caldwell where there is a teff grower named Wayne Carlson. I honestly don’t know if Idaho has a large population of Ethiopians, but there is a food called in injera which is an Ethiopian staple food which is made from teff which is a tiny grain that, as the article in the statesman said, is ubiquitous in the Horn of Africa and until recently almost unknown elsewhere. I called Travis Jones, Executive Director of the Idaho Grain Producers Association and asked him about this exotic grain:  It is used for breads and their traditional fare over there and there has been a demand in Idaho and in the country in general for those kinds of grains.” That makes sense but how did Wayne Carlson get involved? “Years ago he used to work over there and he discovered there was a demand for it in the United States and he had the knowledge and ability to try and meet that demand.”