A love grass (Eragrostis tef) native to northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia, used as a cereal crop and livestock forage.
[Amharic ṭef.]
teff
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teff (tĕf)  |
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| Food and Nutrition: teff |
A tropical millet, Eragrostis abyssinica, the dietary staple in Ethiopia; little grown elsewhere.
| Food Lover's Companion: teff; tef |
A miniscule (about 1⁄32 inch in diameter) cereal grain native to northern Africa. It's been a staple of Ethiopia for eons and is now being grown in the United States in Idaho. The mildly nutty-flavored teff is high in protein and carbohydrates and a good source of calcium and iron. It can be found in natural food stores.
| Word Origins: teff |
from Amharic
This word originated in Ethiopia
Now available at health food stores: a grain so fine that it takes 150 to equal a single grain of wheat. It is rich in protein, B vitamins, iron, and calcium. Its flavor is said to be mildly nutty, mildly sweet, "molasses-like." Most of the world knows little about it, but in Ethiopia teff has been the main grain for many centuries.
Teff is the principal ingredient of injera, a sour pancake that is the basis for traditional Ethiopian meals. To make it, Ethiopians mix finely-ground teff flour with water and cover it with a cloth for several days until it ferments and develops bubbles like those in pancake batter. Stirring in a little salt, they then fry it in large cakes in a lightly oiled pan. A dish-sized injera is used in place of a serving plate at the dinner table, and diners tear off pieces of other injeras to pick up the food. When the injera plate has been picked clean, it too is eaten with all the drippings it has absorbed.
The name teff means "lost" in Amharic because grains spilled on the ground are so small that they are lost. Although teff has only recently been exported to English-speaking lands, it was noticed by English speakers more than two centuries ago. In 1790, writing about his travels through Ethiopia to discover the source of the Nile, James Bruce observed, "Teff is used by all sorts of people from the king downwards, and there are kinds of it which are esteemed fully as much as wheat."
Amharic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family, spoken by fifteen million people in Ethiopia and perhaps five million elsewhere. Two other Amharic words in English are gelada (1878), a kind of baboon, and Negus (1594), the official title for the ruler of Ethiopia (or Abyssinia) until the monarchy was abolished in 1975.
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Eragrostis abyssinica (Jacq.) Link |
Teff or taf (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter), Amharic ጤፍ ṭēff, Tigrinya ጣፍ ṭaff) is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands of northeastern Africa. It has an attractive nutrition profile, being high in dietary fiber and iron and providing protein and calcium.[1] It has a sour taste. It is similar to millet and quinoa in cooking, but the seed is much smaller.
Teff is an important food grain in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is used to make injera, and less so in India and Australia. (It is now raised in the USA, in Idaho in particular.) Because of its small seeds (less than 1 mm diameter), one can hold enough to sow a large area in one hand. This property makes teff particularly suited to a seminomadic lifestyle.
Common names include teff, lovegrass, annual bunch grass (English); Ṭeff/Ṭéff (Amharic, both representing the same sound, an ejective consonant); Ṭaffi/xaffi (oromo, both representing the same sound); Ṭaff (Tigrinya); and mil éthiopien (French). It is also written as ttheff, tteff, thaff, tcheff, and thaft.[2] The word "tef" is connected by folk etymology to the Ethio-Semitic root "ṭff", which means "lost" (because of the small size of the grain).
Teff is believed to have originated in Ethiopia between 4000 BC and 1000 BC. Genetic evidence points to E. pilosa as the most likely wild ancestor.[3] A 19th century identification of teff seeds from an ancient Egyptian site is now considered doubtful; the seeds in question (no longer available for study) are more likely of E. aegyptiaca, a common wild grass in Egypt.[4]
It is adapted to environments ranging from drought stress to waterlogged soil conditions. Maximum teff production occurs at altitudes of 1800 to 2100 m, growing season rainfall of 450 to 550 mm, and a temperature range of 10 to 27 °C. Teff is day length sensitive and flowers best with 12 hours of daylight.
Cultivation and uses
A traditional food plant in Africa, this little-known grain has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare.[1]
Teff has been widely cultivated and used in the countries of South Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India and its colonies, and Australia. Teff accounts for about a quarter of total cereal production in Ethiopia.[5] The grain has a high concentration of different nutrients, a very high calcium content, and high levels of phosphorus, iron, copper, aluminum, barium, and thiamin. A big advantage, the iron from teff is easily absorbed by the body. Teff is high in protein. It is considered to have an excellent amino acid composition (including all 8 essential amino acids for humans) and has lysine levels higher than wheat or barley. Because of this variety, it stimulates the flora of the large intestine. Teff is high in carbohydrates and fiber. It contains no gluten, so it is appropriate for those with celiac disease. Consumers greatly prefer white teff to darker colored varieties.[6]
Teff is a particularly nutritious grain. Its nutritional properties can be found here.
It is also a rich source of other minerals including magnesium, boron, copper, phosphorus and zinc.[7]
References
- ^ a b National Research Council (1996-02-14). "Tef". Lost Crops of Africa: Volume I: Grains. Lost Crops of Africa. 1. National Academies Press. pp. 222. ISBN 978-0-309-04990-0. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=2305&page=215. Retrieved on 2008-07-18.
- ^ Anon. 1887[specify]
- ^ Ingram AL, Doyle JJ, The origin and evolution of Eragrostis tef (Poaceae) and related polyploids: Evidence from nuclear waxy and plastid rps16. American Journal of Botany 90 (1): 116-122, 2003
- ^ Germer, Renate (1985). Flora des pharaonischen Ägypten. Mainz: von Zabern. ISBN 3-8053-0620-2.
- ^ Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin, Market Institutions, Transaction Costs, and Social Capital in the Ethiopian Grain Market. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute, 2001
- ^ G. BELAY, H. TEFERA, B. TADESSE, G. METAFERIA, D. JARRA and T. TADESSE. 2006. Participatory Variety Selection in the Ethiopian Cereal Tef (Eragrostis Tef). Experimental Agriculture 42:91-101.
- ^ "Teff and Gluten Intolerance". Food Lorists. http://foodlorists.blogspot.com/2007/11/teff-and-gluten-intolerance.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-18.
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Food Lover's Companion. Food Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2001 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Word Origins. The World in So Many Words, by Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Teff". Read more |
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