Kabog millet is a native cereal. Long before the Spanish colonizers came to the Philippines, Cebuanos had eaten it as a staple. It is used to make budbud kabog, a yellow-colored tube-cake wrapped in banana leaves.
As a food scientist with a plant biology background, I decided to combine these two passions to put the focus on these crops, starting with the kabog millet from Cebu. We analyzed the nutritional value of kabog millet, in collaboration with the kabog millet farmers and Communities for Alternative Food EcoSystems initiative as part of my Future Food Fellowship in the Laboratory of Food Biochemistry at ETH Zürich.
From these perspectives, kabog millet can provide more protein, which is needed by the body, and dietary fiber, which is important for the proper functioning of the gut. Recent studies suggest that dietary fiber consumption has many health benefits. In addition, kabog millet contains significantly higher amounts of carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin than the rice and locally sourced proso millet samples tested.