Recipe
Sorghum Genmaicha
https://www.sorghumcheckoff.com/recipes/sorghum-genmaicha/
Genmaicha is a traditional Japanese tea made from steamed green tea leaves and toasted brown rice.
Tea has been consumed for hundreds of years in Japan and is thought to have been brought over from China through diplomatic interactions.
The origins of Genmaicha are not fully agreed upon and there are many stories and legends surrounding its creation. The most common of which goes that there was once a samurai who asked his servant to serve him tea, but the servant had a few grains of rice on his sleeve that fell in when he was brewing the tea. The samurai enjoyed it and it became a common practice afterwards.
Many attribute the prevalence of toasted grain in tea to being a way to stretch limited supplies of tea without having to sacrifice flavor.
Our take on genmaicha uses whole grain sorghum in place of the traditional brown rice in a similar 5-step process of soaking, cooking, drying, toasting, and cooling.
The traditional ratio is 1:1 green tea to roasted grain by weight, but you can adjust it to your liking! Use 1 cup green tea leaves to ½ cup toasted sorghum for the perfect genmaicha blend to have on hand at all times.
For the most authentic brew, make in a kyusu teapot, and avoid boiling water as it can over-extract the green tea and result in a bitter final cup.
Source: Everything you need to know about genmaicha. TeaMuse. (n.d.). https://www.teamuse.com/article_210902.html
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Ingredients
Genmaicha Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon Japanese tea (Sencha or Bancha)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sorghum (recipe follows)
Toasted sorghum Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole grain sorghum
- 4 cups water
Instructions
Toasted Sorghum Instructions:
- Rinse the sorghum and place it into a container with enough water to cover it. Allow the sorghum to soak overnight in the refrigerator.
- Drain the sorghum and add to a medium saucepan with 4 cups of water over high heat.
- Bring the pot to a boil, cover, and simmer the sorghum until it is very tender, about an hour.
- Once the sorghum is cooked, drain off the remaining liquid and pour the sorghum out onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Pre-heat oven to its lowest setting, 150-200°F.
- Spread the sorghum out into an even layer and place it into the oven.
- Allow the sorghum to dehydrate in the oven, stirring every 30 minutes, until completely dry, about 3 hours.
- Once the sorghum is dry, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool completely.
- Pre-heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the sorghum and toast stirring constantly until lightly browned and fragrant.
- Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature, and store until needed.
Genmaicha Instructions:
- Combine Japanese green tea and toasted sorghum in a tea infuser and steep in 8 ounces of hot water (ideally 170°F) for 2 minutes.
- Remove the tea infuser and enjoy.
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