Jowar (sorghum): names, nutrition, benefits and how to use it

Jowar is sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), which ICAR-IIMR describes as a warm-season crop, intolerant of low temperatures. The grain can be white, yellow or red, the colours ICAR-IIMR records. Cooked, jowar tastes mild, which makes it an easy first millet for a family.

Sorghum is one of the eight millets that ICAR-IIMR lists as commonly grown in India, alongside bajra (pearl millet) and ragi (finger millet), and both ICAR-IIMR and the ICMR-NIN guidelines call millets nutri-cereals. In India it is a major crop in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and parts of Central India, and a fodder crop in some southern regions; a 2021 review in Frontiers in Nutrition notes that millets, sorghum included, survive high temperatures on minimal water.

ICAR-IIMR describes the grain as a naked caryopsis of pericarp, endosperm and germ. The whole grain is cooked like rice, soaked and pressure-cooked for upma, milled into jowar atta for bhakri and roti, or popped like popcorn. In Hindi the grain is jowar or juar, in Marathi jwari, in Kannada jola, in Telugu jonna and in Tamil cholam; the full list is on jowar in English, Hindi and other Indian languages. Where it sits among the types of millets grown in India, and what each one is used for, is covered in that guide.

"Jowar in English" is one of the most searched questions about this grain, and the answer is simply sorghum; ICAR-IIMR adds that it goes by other names too, such as great millet and guinea corn in West Africa, Asia and parts of the Middle East. Across India it is jowar or juar in Hindi and Gujarati, jowar in Bengali and Urdu, jwari in Marathi, jola or jolada in Kannada, jonna in Telugu and cholam in Tamil. The names below come from the IFCT 2017 local-names list, printed in the same language order as other COWBERRY grain pages, with ICAR-IIMR's spellings shown beside them. IFCT prints the botanical name Sorghum vulgare; ICAR-IIMR uses Sorghum bicolor. What each name means, and which grains get confused with jowar, is on the jowar in English page.

Source: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) local-names list. — means no name recorded in the source.

Marathi ‘Jwari’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, millets information page (vernacular names). Gujarati ‘Jowari, Juar’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, millets information page (vernacular names). Odia ‘Juara’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, millets information page (vernacular names). Kannada ‘Jola’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, millets information page (vernacular names).

Per 100 g of raw grain, IFCT 2017 reports 334 kcal, 9.97 g protein, 1.73 g fat, 67.68 g carbohydrate and 10.22 g dietary fibre. The minerals are 3.95 mg iron, 27.6 mg calcium, 133 mg magnesium, 328 mg potassium, 1.96 mg zinc and 39.42 mcg folate, with only 5.42 mg sodium. Jowar is not the calcium millet (that is ragi) or the iron millet (that is bajra); its strengths are protein and fibre at a low fat level.

Against whole wheat, jowar has almost the same protein (wheat has 10.59 g) and a little less fibre (wheat has 11.23 g), so a jowar bhakri and a wheat roti of the same weight are close on paper; the differences are that jowar is gluten-free and slightly higher in energy at 334 kcal against 322 kcal. Against bajra, jowar has about a third of the fat (1.73 g against 5.43 g) and less iron (bajra has 6.42 mg).

The glycemic index of plain boiled de-husked sorghum grain is 66 in the University of Sydney database, a medium value, above bajra roti at 57 and the two wheat entries tested in India, which average 47. A roasted jowar roti, the only Indian test in that database, came out higher still, in the high band. In household terms, the 30 g of atta in a roti comes to about 100 kcal, 3 g protein and 3.1 g fibre, and the 40 g in a bhakri to 134 kcal. The full per-roti and per-katori numbers are in the jowar roti calories and nutrition per 100 g breakdown, and the case for swapping rice for a millet is made in millets vs rice.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN). GI: University of Sydney GI database. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Each benefit below rests on a number in the table above or on a cited review; the full list with sources is on jowar atta benefits and side effects, and in Hinglish on jowar ki roti ke fayde.

Fibre that keeps you full

Jowar carries 10.22 g fibre per 100 g, and the ICMR-NIN guidelines count millets among the whole grains that give sustained energy and help you feel full. That, not any special property, is why it turns up in Indian weight-management diets.

Protein close to wheat

At 9.97 g per 100 g, jowar protein is on par with whole wheat and ahead of ragi. Like other cereal protein it is short of lysine, and the ICMR-NIN guidelines pair cereals with pulses to make up for it, which is what a Maharashtrian plate of bhakri with dal or pithla already does.

Naturally gluten-free

Jowar contains no gluten: the NHS names wheat, barley and rye as the cereals that carry it, and ICAR-IIMR describes non-glutinous millets as safe for people with coeliac disease. That makes jowar bhakri an everyday roti for a gluten-free kitchen; if you are coeliac, ask how the flour was milled.

Iron, magnesium and potassium

Jowar gives 3.95 mg iron, 133 mg magnesium and 328 mg potassium per 100 g. A 2021 Frontiers in Nutrition meta-analysis reported higher haemoglobin in anaemic people who ate millets regularly, and the ICMR-NIN guidelines advise eating vitamin C-rich food with plant iron, so squeeze lemon over the sabzi that goes with the bhakri.

Blood sugar

Jowar's GI of 66 is medium, not low. Studies of millet diets add some context: a 2021 meta-analysis found that fasting and post-meal blood glucose fell in diabetic people who ate millets over the long term, and a 2016 Nutrition Reviews review of sorghum studies found evidence that sorghum attenuated blood glucose responses. Portion size still counts, and anyone managing diabetes should talk to their doctor or dietitian.

Polyphenols in the bran

ICAR-IIMR's millet bulletin notes that all sorghum carries phenolic acids, some varieties condensed tannins and pigmented grain 3-deoxyanthocyanidins, and that sorghum fractions show high antioxidant activity in vitro. The same bulletin places phenolics in the outer layer and seed coat, so whole-grain atta holds on to them better than a refined flour.

Low fat, low sodium

With 1.73 g fat and 5.42 mg sodium per 100 g, jowar is close to whole wheat on fat and carries about a third of bajra's. ICAR-IIMR blames the fat in pearl millet meal for its spoiling in storage, so less fat leaves less to go rancid in the flour.

For most people jowar in normal portions causes no trouble. Five situations call for care.

• Gas and bloating: 10.22 g fibre per 100 g is a jump for anyone coming from white rice or maida. Start with one bhakri a day and drink more water; the discomfort usually eases as you get used to it.
• Mineral absorption: phytates, and in some varieties tannins, reduce how much of the minerals in millets the body can use (ICAR-IIMR). Boiling or pressure cooking removes much of the phytic acid, according to the ICMR-NIN guidelines, which also credit fermented or sprouted grains, and vitamin C at the same meal, with better iron uptake.
• Coeliac disease: jowar itself has no gluten. If you are coeliac, check the pack or ask how the flour was milled; if in doubt, buy whole grain and grind it at home.
• Diabetes: jowar has 67.68 g carbohydrate per 100 g and a medium GI of 66. It works as a swap for rice or wheat, not as an addition, and two bhakris (80 g atta) carry about 54.1 g of carbohydrate.
• Kidney disease: at 328 mg potassium per 100 g, jowar is not for anyone on a potassium-restricted diet without advice.

A diet built on jowar alone would also run short of lysine, so keep dal on the plate. If you follow a diet for a medical condition, talk to your doctor or dietitian before making jowar your main grain.

Whole jowar grain: rinse, soak for 8 hours or overnight, then pressure cook with three times its volume of water for 5 to 6 whistles, until the grains are tender but still chewy. Whole sorghum needs a long cook, and the soak is what shortens it. Cooked jowar goes into khichdi, salads, pulao and upma in place of rice.

Jowar atta behaves differently from wheat flour because it has no gluten. For jowar bhakri, the Maharashtra staple, boiling water is stirred into the flour, the dough is kneaded while still warm, and each ball is patted out by hand on a board dusted with flour, cooked on a hot tawa with a little water brushed on top, then puffed on an open flame. The waiting balls stay under a damp cloth so they do not dry out, and six bhakris take about 40 minutes. A part-wheat dough rolls like a regular roti, but it is then no longer gluten-free.

Upma and dosa: for jowar upma, the soaked, pressure-cooked whole grain is tossed through a sooji-style tempering; it stays in separate, chewy grains instead of turning soft like sooji, and takes about 50 minutes once soaked. A jowar dosa needs no grinding or fermenting: jowar atta, a little rice flour and sour curd are whisked into a batter, rested for 15 minutes and spread thin, eight dosas in about 50 minutes.

Porridge, snacks and baking: a few spoons of jowar atta cooked in water, cooled and thinned with buttermilk make ambali, a thin porridge drunk cold in summer, and the same flour cooked in milk with jaggery makes a sweet breakfast porridge. Dry-roasted jowar pops like popcorn for chivda, and jowar atta goes into thalipeeth bhajani, cookies and cakes. If the family is new to it, start with a third jowar in the chapati dough and move to full bhakri once everyone is used to the taste; the ICMR-NIN guidelines suggest adults take 20 to 30 percent of their cereals (raw weight) from millets.

Store whole jowar in a cool, dry cupboard, in a steel or glass container with a tight lid. Sun-dry it for a few hours before you store a large pack, add a few dried neem leaves, a traditional practice that the ICMR-NIN guidelines say prevents some infestations, and never scoop with a wet spoon. A 5 kg pack should be tipped into containers the day it arrives rather than left in the bag.

Jowar atta has about a third of bajra's fat, but ICAR-IIMR notes that in any whole-grain flour the oil from the broken germ oxidises and turns rancid in time. Buy 1 kg packs, keep the flour airtight in a cool, dry place away from the stove, and refrigerate it in humid weather such as the monsoon, as COWBERRY's own storage advice says. A musty, sour or bitter smell means the batch has turned; do not use it. The same rules, with the monsoon detail, are on how to store atta, grains and dals.

Three recipes cover the ways jowar is eaten most days in western and southern India; the full set is in the jowar recipes roundup.

• Jowar bhakri: the hand-patted Maharashtra flatbread, eaten with pithla, thecha or any sabzi.
• Jowar upma: soaked, pressure-cooked whole jowar in a mustard, curry leaf and vegetable tempering with roasted groundnuts; the grains stay separate, so it packs well for a lunchbox.
• Jowar dosa: an instant, pepper-seasoned batter with no fermenting, crisp at the edges, with coconut chutney.

Beyond those, jowar khichdi (soaked whole jowar pressure-cooked with moong dal, turmeric and ghee) makes a one-pot dinner, jowar ambali is a cold buttermilk porridge for summer, and popped jowar tossed with roasted peanuts, curry leaves and chilli powder makes a quick chivda that keeps for about a week in an airtight jar.

Grain or flour? Buy whole jowar if you cook it like rice, sprout it or want to grind small batches of fresh flour; buy jowar atta for bhakri, roti and dosa. Most homes keep both.

Which jowar is best? For bhakri, pick white grain: it makes the familiar soft, pale bhakri. Other colours exist, and ICAR-IIMR's bulletin credits yellow sorghum with beta carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, though the amounts vary with growing conditions and variety.

Colour and smell: good grain is uniform, plump and pearly, with no black or shrivelled seeds, dust or webbing. Fresh jowar atta is off-white and smells faintly sweet and nutty; a sour or bitter smell means old flour.

Milling: whole-grain atta, stone-ground or from a slow chakki, keeps the bran and germ, the parts of the grain where ICAR-IIMR places most of the fibre, minerals and phenolics. Check the milling or packing date and take the freshest pack.

Certification: for organic jowar, check that the pack says India Organic, USDA & EU certified; words such as "natural" or "chemical-free" are not certified claims, as set out in organic, natural and chemical-free labels explained.

Pack size: flour in 1 kg packs, so each one is used up while it is fresh; whole grain in 5 kg or larger packs, since the grain keeps better than flour.

Jowar is often weighed against bajra and wheat, and people with diabetes ask about its GI. Those three questions have full answers, and two more flatbreads made with jowar have step-by-step recipes.

• Bajra vs jowar: the two millets compared on nutrition, taste and cost, and which to choose.
• Jowar vs wheat: where each grain comes out ahead, with taste and cost side by side.
• Jowar glycemic index: the tested GI of the boiled grain, what one bhakri means for blood sugar and how much to eat.
• Jowar roti: soft rotis from a boiling-water dough, patted between plastic sheets and cooked on the tawa with ghee.
• Thalipeeth: the Maharashtrian multigrain flatbread, made from a bhajani of jowar, bajra, wheat, rice and besan with roasted chana dal and onion.

What is jowar?

Jowar is the Indian name for sorghum, a gluten-free grain grown as a major crop in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and parts of Central India (ICAR-IIMR). It is eaten as bhakri and roti made from jowar atta, as cooked whole grain in khichdi, salads and upma, as dosa and as a popped snack. Per 100 g it gives 334 kcal, 9.97 g protein and 10.22 g fibre (IFCT 2017).

Is jowar good for health?

For most people, yes, as a staple grain in place of rice or maida rather than on top of them. It brings 10.22 g fibre and 9.97 g protein per 100 g with only 1.73 g fat, is gluten-free, and has a medium GI of 66. Its limits are those of any whole grain: add it gradually, and eat it with dal to round out its protein.

Does jowar have protein?

Yes. Jowar has 9.97 g protein per 100 g in IFCT 2017, about the same as whole wheat (10.59 g) and more than ragi. A 30 g roti's worth of flour gives about 3 g. The protein is low in lysine, so pair jowar with dal, curd, milk or sprouts rather than counting on it alone.

Is jowar gluten free?

Yes. Jowar contains no gluten, and ICAR-IIMR describes non-glutinous millets as safe for people with coeliac disease or a gluten allergy. Because there is no gluten, jowar dough is made with boiling water and patted by hand rather than rolled, and a jowar dosa uses a little rice flour for crispness. If you are coeliac, check the pack for a note on shared milling with wheat.

Is sorghum a millet?

In Indian usage, yes. ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research lists sorghum (jowar) among the eight millets commonly grown in India, with pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), foxtail, kodo, proso, barnyard and little millet, and both ICAR-IIMR and the ICMR-NIN guidelines call millets nutri-cereals. ICAR-IIMR's booklet on the nutritional and health benefits of millets also ranks sorghum as the world's fifth major cereal, after maize, paddy, wheat and barley.

Can jowar be eaten in summer?

Yes, jowar can be eaten all year, summer included. Many homes in Maharashtra and Gujarat keep it as the summer grain and bajra as the winter one, because traditional food belief counts jowar as cooling; that is custom, not a measured effect. Jowar ambali, a thin jowar atta porridge thinned with buttermilk, is drunk cold in summer.

Can sorghum be popped like popcorn?

Yes. ICAR-IIMR lists popping among the ways sorghum is processed, and at home dry whole jowar heated in a covered pan or a hot kadai with no oil pops into small white puffs. Not every grain pops, so sieve out the hard ones. Popped jowar is eaten as chivda with peanuts and spices, or with milk and jaggery as a breakfast cereal.

Why does jowar roti break?

Because jowar has no gluten to hold the dough together. Pour boiling water over the flour, knead while the dough is still warm until it is smooth with no cracks, keep the portioned balls under a damp cloth, and pat each one out on a board dusted with flour; a rolling pin works too if you roll between two sheets of plastic. If the dough cracks, wet your hand and knead again.