Sorghum can be trickier to pop than corn, but here are our tips, tricks, and suggestions for getting a good yield!

IMPORTANT: We do NOT recommend popping black sorghum; it is especially difficult to pop and often leaves large amounts of burnt or wasted grain. Instead, you can use our DIY white sorghum products.

Before popping, please be sure to sort out anything in the grain that is not sorghum. Our popping sorghum is a natural organic product, and may contain occasional pieces of debris such as plant stems. 

We recommend stovetop popping since it often delivers the highest yield of popped sorghum; however, you can also microwave or air-pop sorghum as well. 

Stovetop Popping: 

         What You’ll Need: 

• ⅓ cup Nature Nate’s DIY Popping Sorghum
• 1 tsp water
• 1 tbsp oil of your choice
• Bowl
• Small saucepan with lid
• Stirring spoon

1. Hydrate the sorghum grain by adding ⅓ cup sorghum and 1 tsp water to a bowl and mix until the grain has absorbed the water. 
2. Pour 1 tbsp of oil into the saucepan and turn heat to medium-high. 
3. Once the oil begins to smoke, pour in the sorghum and stir briskly with the stirring spoon. 
4. Put the lid on the pot once it starts to pop. 
5. As the sorghum pops, shake the pan back and forth once or twice every 5 seconds. 
6. When the popping of the sorghum slows down, turn the burner down to medium. 
7. Do not attempt to get every kernel to pop, or it may scald or burn. Expect 70-90% to pop, or 2 to 4 cups yield of popped sorghum per ⅓ cup grain. 
8. You may sift out the unpopped kernels, but it is not necessary. 
9. Season with whichever salts/seasonings you prefer, if any. 
10. Enjoy!

Microwave Popping: 

1. In a small paper bag (2 lb) pour ⅓ cup of popping sorghum. 
2. Stand the bag up straight, and close the top of the bag by folding it down several times. 
3. With the microwave on high, set for ~2 minutes (time varies per microwave and/or location and time of day). If it scalds or burns, try it again with slightly less time. 
4. When it’s finished popping, remove it promptly and pour into a bowl or strainer. This method yields a little less than the stove/pan/oil popping method. 

Air Popping: 

1. Preheat air popper. 
2. Pour in ⅓ cup popping sorghum. 
3. The grain is smaller and lighter than corn; you may need to tilt the popper back about 40° to keep the grain from blowing out. 
4. Once popping slows down, turn air popper down/off and empty popped sorghum into a bowl. 

Organic sorghum that is specifically selected to pop nice and fluffy!

More from Nature Nate's:

Save some money, eat a freshly popped healthy snack by popping your own sorghum.

• Organic
• Non-GMO
• Gluten Free

Nature Nate’s our goal is to make tasty healthy natural food using local ingredients. People always ask me, “How did you get into this”? I started out with popped wheat – it’s nothing new, in fact my mother made it for me when I was a kid…I can remember begging her to make me some.

As I became an adult I pop wheat once in a while – slowly perfecting the formula and technique. As parents, we are always searching for healthy snacks, especially for food that is good on the road or as snacks at school. I began making popped wheat for my family quite often; friends of my children were able to try it during snack time at school – they all loved it, even the picky eaters! I shared it with other friends and associates – they loved it too, some even prompted me to sell it.

Chuck’s Produce was the first to sell my snacks. Customers seem to like it; I was able to give out a lot of samples there. I especially love the reaction of people who try it for the first time; some are overwhelmed by the tasty, crunchy goodness.  People would give me feedback while I sampled there at Chuck’s, I always jot down these notes. The customers wanted more flavors; out of a big list I came out with 2 more flavors, Honey Butter and Salsa (which is now much spicier and has been re-named “Slow Burn Salsa”) I noticed right away that there was a large percentage of people who are either allergic to wheat or won’t eat it because of the gluten and/or fear of GMO’s (genetically modified organism’s).

That’s when I started researching gluten free grains. I eventually came up with Glorious Grains – 11 whole gluten free and GMO free grains and seeds popped and roasted to perfection. I worked a few local farmers markets here in the Vancouver Washington area; by going this route and demoing at Chuck’s I received even more valuable feedback; what I heard was that people especially like the sorghum in the Glorious Grains. I received requests to pop it SOLO for people; it soon became my top seller at the farmer's markets…that’s when I knew I had something.