Is sorgum flour gluten free

Answer 1

Sorghum is a grain that is gluten free if not contaminated somehow, perhaps by shared equipment in processing.

While all grains belong to the grass family, sorghum is a distant cousin to the gluten containing grains of wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Sorghum contains a type of storage protein, called a prolamin, just as the gluten-containing grains do, but the sorghum prolamin has different amino acid sequences and is different enough that people with gluten sensitivity don't react to it.

So if you are on a gluten free diet and are interested in using sorghum syrup, or see sorghum on a label, in theory it should be fine.

Answer 2

Sorghum doesn't itself contain gliadin/gluten, but sorghum flour is often contaminated with gluten, according to a recent research study. Sorghum flour was found to contain 234 ppm of gluten, presumably either from wheat plants growing in a sorghum field at time of harvest, or from contamination at the mill.

Here's a link to the abstract of the research article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20497786.

And here's a link to a website discussing it: http://suite101.com/article/celiac-disease-diet-study-many-gluten-free-grains-contaminated-a243716

Answer 3

Yes, which is why it's a popular flour substitute for gluten-free baking.