Brewing With Fonio

Fonio caught the attention of Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery in 2019 by way of a TED Talk, “A Forgotten Ancient Grain that Could Help Africa Prosper,” presented in 2017 by Senegalese chef and passionate fonio advocate Pierre Thiam.

In a 2024 interview with Chef Thiam about listening to his TED Talk, Garret said, “I knew from day one that people at some point had made beer out of this because people had made beer in Africa out of every grain that there was. And the first time we [brewed with] it, we did it with about 30 or 40% [white] fonio, the beer actually smelled like Gewürztraminer wine. Kind of like lychee fruit and all these very tropical fruit sort of characteristics. It smelled like wine. And then it had this very subtle, almost . . . unbuttered popcorn finish in the end, that [added a] kind of warmth.”

Garrett is as passionate about brewing with fonio as Chef Thiam is about cooking with this ancient grain (more on that in a bit). In celebration of his 30-year anniversary with Brooklyn Brewing, the brewery launched “Brewing for Impact, an initiative that celebrates his enduring influence while embarking on a collaborative exploration with seven breweries worldwide to spotlight the ancient West African grain fonio — and its untapped brewing potential.”

The breweries who have participated in this collaborative initiative are Maison Kalao (Dakar, Senegal), Thornbridge Brewery (Bakewell, Derbyshire, United Kingdom), Omnipollo (Stockholm, Sweden), Carlsberg (Copenhagen, Denmark), Russian River Brewery (Santa Rosa, California), Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, New York), Jing-A Brewing Co. (Beijing, China), and Guinness (Ireland and U.S.A.).

This background explains why fonio is popping up in the press, but what exactly is fonio and why are people so excited about it?

White fonio (Digitaria exilis) is a part of the Paniceae tribe of grasses that include millet. Although there are other types of fonio, like black fonio, white fonio is by far the most agriculturally significant. When reading about “fonio,” it is safe to assume you are reading about white fonio. Historical and archaeological records show that fonio has been cultivated for at least 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest, if not the oldest, African cereal crops. Today, fonio is primarily grown in the hot, dry, Sahel region located south of the Sahara Desert and stretching east from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Guinea, Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Senegal are the largest fonio producers. Although fonio is a small crop when compared to crops like rice and wheat, annual production is about 750,000 metric tons, or about 2,000 times the annual production volume of Kernza®, another small grain that has recently drawn media attention.

Two things make fonio a special cereal: Its nutritive properties and its growth habits. Fonio, like quinoa, soy, amaranth, buckwheat, and chia, contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete source of protein. And fonio produces its bounty in dry climates with poor soils, and without irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Chef Thiam’s passion about fonio began after he learned about this forgotten grain and how fonio cultivation could help feed his brothers and sisters in Senegal.

His interest led to dramatic improvements in processing, a traditionally labor-intensive and slow process, a complete supply chain giving African farmers access to the U.S. market, and a sustainable way to bring money back to Africa to further grow agriculture in a region with very real needs. That’s the inspirational food story. The beer story picks up when Garrett Oliver listened to Chef Thiam’s TED Talk in 2019. Being the creative and awesome brewer that he is, Garrett’s first thought was beer! And the rest is history.

Thanks to Chef Thiam’s vision, fonio imported into the U.S. has been milled to remove the husk and steamed to gelatinize its starch, making fonio an easy addition to the mash. And because fonio starch, typically comprised of 77% amylopectin and 23% amylose, is very similar to other cereal starches used in brewing, it easily converts like other unmalted adjuncts during the mash. Unlike oats and rye, both known as rich sources of gummy beta-glucans and pentosans, aka dietary fiber, fonio is not a gummy source of stuck mash headaches. Finally, fonio usually contains less than 10% protein by weight, giving it about the same potential extract as rice, maize, and other starchy adjuncts.

What about milling? No need to mill because fonio is smaller than the grains of sand found on many beaches. If you want to crush fonio to maximize yield, the way to do that is to use a powerful blender and turn it into fonio flour. But the commercial brewers using fonio are not doing that.

Like all non-traditional brewing ingredients, there are no style rules about brewing with fonio. Have fun, be creative, and let the flavor come through. After cooking with fonio for the first time, two styles immediately came to mind; a dunkel formulated on the lighter end of the color spectrum and a rustic farmhouse ale using a restrained yeast strain. If you want to give fonio a try, the easiest place to find it is online. 

Response by Ashton Lewis.