Read full article By Pushpesh Pant@ ANI News Photo Credit: Chef Nishant Choubey
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): A folk tale describes the plight of a poor peasant’s beautiful daughter who caught the eye of the Prince out on a hunt. He married her and made her the queen. Bliss didn’t last long.
Everyone was worried when the young queen lost all appetite and began wasting away. It took a clever physician to diagnose the ailment. She was missing the coarse bread prepared with millets that she had been reared on. Bajra rotli with thecha was prescribed and needless to add that the couple lived happily ever after.
Millets are identified as ‘poor man’s food’ that the more affluent are reluctant to welcome on their plate. It is only with the proliferation of crippling lifestyle diseases that the world has started a revaluation of these mighty midgets. Millets have a low glycemic index and can play a significant role in the management of diabetes.
The deoxidants present have been tested in laboratories and displayed properties that retard the ageing process. Those suffering from gluten-related disorders and wheat allergies can substitute millets for wheat.
Millets are very hardy and grow quite well in arid, semi arid and drought-prone regions. They can tolerate extreme weather conditions and compare very well with major cereals – wheat and rice. They have more protein by weight and are a richer store of micronutrients than even fruits and green tea. This has earned them the sobriquet ‘nutraceuticals’ – almost a superfood.
It was millets – the small seeds of grasses growing wild- that sustained our ancestors before they had mastered agriculture. Historians have discovered evidence that humans consumed millets more than 7000 years ago before other crops were ‘tamed’ and farmed by settled communities. Noodles in a fairly well-preserved state in earthen bowls have been found in northern China.
