Fonio (Digitaria exilis) has been grown in West Africa for centuries. Long time reduced to a marginal cereal because of its small grains, fonio is currently experiencing resurgence due to taste and nutritional qualities recognized by its consumers. Recent research has helped mechanize several stages of processing to facilitate the promotion of fonio in local urban markets and for export to Europe and the United States. Source: http://fonio.cirad.fr

And fonio is easy to prepare. Fonio can be added to soup or boiled to make a porridge for breakfast. Or, to eat with yoghurt, or (like couscous) with a sauce, just rinse the fonio, pour warm water with salt over it (about 1 cup of water or to one cup of fonio), leave for 15 minutes, then steam for another 15 minutes (or more).

For recipes, i.e. fonio salad, fonio cake, see www.ucodal.com. UCODAL is a food processing company founded by a Malian woman.

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