After a recent trip to one of Dallas’ best new restaurants, Rapscallion (HOT CHICKEN!), I found myself asking that question multiple times. What the heck is Sorghum? It’s in drinks, on dishes and is clearly a hot ingredient.

I’m clearly not the only one with these questions as Huffington Post did a write up last October. And damn it, they did a pretty fantastic job of breaking it down, recipes and all.

So assuming you’re at a restaurant with Sorghum on the menu and did what I did, you Googled it, here’s the quick answer to impress your dinner mates:

• It’s a tall grass used for grain and forage production (think corn)
• It originally came from Egypt and Africa, where they have been growing it for 4,000 years
• Typically used as a sweetener (molasses or syrup)
• It’s gluten-free! Can be used as a grain or ground into a flour.
• It’s about as versatile as corn and we all know the level at which corn exists in our food (it’s in everything).

With its usefulness and prevalence on important, local menus, I’m guessing Dallasites are about to see a lot more Sorghum highlighted at their favorite dinner establishments.

Want more? Don’t worry, there’s a lot more about Sorghum:

Here
Here
Here