Fonio (Digitaria exilis) is a small cereal grown in West Africa for millennia, with grains among the finest in the plant world. Once cooked, it resembles a very light semolina and accompanies the slow-cooked sauces of West African cuisine. This guide presents its origin, its sourced composition and how to cook it, pre-cooked or raw.
What is fonio?
Fonio refers to two cereals of the genus Digitaria, from the Poaceae family: white fonio (Digitaria exilis) and black fonio (Digitaria iburua). Its grains are tiny, much smaller than those of millet or sorghum. It is called findi in Wolof, foni in Bambara and acha in Hausa.
Fonio is not one of the cereals that contain gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats). If you need to avoid gluten, check the product label: traces are possible depending on where it was processed.
Origins and status of fonio in the European Union
Fonio grows in the West African savannah, from Senegal to Lake Chad, with the exception of Liberia; Guinea is its main growing region. Its domestication reportedly dates back to the early fifth millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cultivated cereals in Africa. The traveller Ibn Battuta already mentions it in the fourteenth century, and among the Dogon of Mali, white fonio is associated with agriculture itself.
In the European Union, hulled grains of Digitaria exilis are authorised as a traditional food from a third country under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2016 of 18 December 2018, which amends the Union list of novel foods. The mandatory label designation is “hulled fonio (Digitaria exilis) grains”.
What is the composition of fonio?
Raw fonio provides, per 100 grams, about 367 kilocalories, 9 grams of protein, 75 grams of carbohydrates and 1.8 grams of fat. A scientific review compiling several studies places the protein content between 5.1 and 11%, with an average close to 8%, and the fibre content between 0.4 and 11.3%, with an average close to 5.9%. The grain also provides, on average, about 8.5 milligrams of iron and 460 milligrams of magnesium per 100 grams, with wide variations between studies. It stands out for its methionine and cysteine content, two sulphur-containing amino acids more present than in sorghum, rice or wheat.
How to cook fonio?
Two methods exist depending on the product you have.
- Pre-cooked fonio: pour it into salted boiling water, cover and let it swell for a few minutes off the heat, then fluff it with a fork with a drizzle of oil. The exact proportions are given on the bag.
- Raw fonio: it is prepared like semolina, rinsed then steamed in several passes, a longer traditional method that gives a particularly fluffy grain.
Fonio features in many West African preparations: as an accompaniment to a peanut sauce or stewed vegetables, as couscous, as porridge, as fritters, or in Malian djouka, a mixture of steamed fonio and peanut powder.
Recipes with fonio
To cook fonio every day, our fonio in sauce recipe, with chicken and vegetables shows how to serve it as a side dish. To discover the traditional Malian dish, the djouka recipe, fonio with peanut details the full preparation.
Where to find fonio in France?
NKOSI sells NUMBER ONE pre-cooked fonio, in a 1-kilogram bag, as well as NUMBER ONE djouka, a pre-cooked mixture of fonio and peanut for preparing the Malian dish of the same name (contains peanut). Find the whole range in our African cereals and grains collection.
