Today my son asked me an interesting question.
I told him bread is made with grain, which is the seed of any member of the grass family. I told him grasses are things like wheat, barley, corn, and sugarcane.
He asked, “Can bread be made with sugarcane seeds?”
. . . Huh! I don’t know the answer to that! Does anyone here know?
Looks like it might be pretty close to sorghum, which suggests they might be edible. There’s a hint that some cultures eat the flowers, but it looks like the rationale for not eating the seeds is along the lines of “no, we prefer to eat the cane.”
There’s no hint that they’re toxic or otherwise inedible. In fact, the seeds appear to be overlooked entirely as a possible food source.
That’s what I was thinking, too. Interesting, isn’t it?
According to Grok (xAI’s LLM):
“Sugarcane seeds are extremely small and lack the starchy endosperm found in true cereal grains like wheat or rice, which are grasses like sugarcane. This makes them unsuitable for grinding into flour for bread in any practical sense.”
He didn’t actually provide a link that said that so it’s possible that’s just his hallucination. His first response was “they don’t even have seeds” so he might not be qualified to answer 
(Laugh.)
I remember Weird Explorer had an episode of his YouTube channel in which he and his friend ate something that was the same species as sugarcane, but not sweet – it was bred for the starchy interior of the stalks, which was fluffy. I think it was cooked into things. I can’t remember what it was, and he said it was rare and hard to find, because almost everybody wants the sweet canes. But it was the same species!
Shame I can’t remember what it was called.
Great Questions!
I’ve heard cultivated Sugar Cane doesn’t form seeds well & that the seeds are tiny.
They probably are but aren’t worth your time to bother & much more valuable for seed saving. Lemon Grass seeds are tiny, probably also in a similar situation.
Anyways, here’s the Phylogenic Tree for Sugar Cane. Hoping I can cross them with Sorghum to make super sweet stalks.
Wow, I didn’t realize sorghum is that closely related to sugarcane! That really does imply sugarcane seeds could be edible – both species make thick canes full of sap that can be used for syrup, and sorghum seeds make a tasty grain.
WOW! I know I’ve heard of Sorghum & Corn stalks being used to make sugar but I had no clue on how it’s done. Are there specific varieties bred for sugar syrup extraction cuz if so, Sorghum may be a good replacement for Sugar Cane in more Temperate regions or maybe we can hybridize Sorghum & Sugar Cane to bring more sugar cane sweet traits into sorghum?
My question is how do you watch out for the cyanide in Sorghum? Cooking the sugar extracts will destory all the toxins right? I’ve also heard cold makes them more toxic but not sure if that’s some made up BS or not.
Yup. In fact, I was reflecting just the other day that sorghum is basically a sugarcane equivalent for temperate climates. You can buy sorghum syrup on Amazon – it’s quite nice in flavor, somewhere between honey and maple syrup.
Sorghum comes in four different types (yes, it’s been "Brassica oleracea"ed! 
). There’s sweet sorghum, broomcorn sorghum, popping sorghum, and grain sorghum. You can get two or more attributes into the same plant. This year, I’m hoping to grow two sweet sorghum varieties that also make copious seeds that can be ground up for tasty flour or popped. (This one and this one, in case you’re interested in buying them yourself.)
Sorghum is a remarkable species because it’s so drought tolerant. It will grow in places that are too dry for corn.
Oh, and what is broomcorn sorghum, you may ask? It’s sorghum that was bred for making brooms out of. You know those old-fashioned brooms you sometimes see that look like somebody tied a bunch of thick stalks together? Those were made with broomcorn sorghum!
Oh, and as for cyanide in sorghum . . . that only happens if the plant is stressed, such as by drought – which, let’s be honest, is probably always gonna happen in my yard, but might not in the yard of someone who irrigates a lot and/or gets rain in summer. 
Cyanide is easy enough to get rid of. Just cook the plant bits before eating them. That’s gonna happen anyway if you’re planning to boil down the sap into syrup, or pop the seeds.
Nice! But is it really true that only some Sorghum varieites you can extract sugar from?
I have Johnson Grass Sorghum halpense & was wondering if I can extract Sugar from it like Sugar Cane too.
I like Sorghum cuz it grows tall, deer don’t eat it & it can block out view as a barrier to stop deer. I’m hoping to combine it with Stinging Nettle too!
Nice! So glad it’s easy to make the plant edible. Wait… if Sorghum has cyanide in it, does that mean Sugar Cane does too? Corn or Gamma Grass doesn’t have any Cyanide in them either right?
I think it’s just sorghum. I don’t know for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other drought-tolerant grasses that do something similar, but I’m sure sugarcane and corn don’t – both have bits that are regularly eaten fresh off the plant.
This is an interesting question & it seems most likely that sugar cane hasn’t been selected for palatable seeds but maybe it could be. There are definitely dual purpose sorghums.
I had a similar thought about bananas wondering if their roots & stem have starchy properties like Ensete.
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that they do. That might be an interesting way to use Musa basjoo for food. (The leaves are edible, too!) Sadly, Musa basjoo seems to be sterile and unwilling to ever make seeds, which has disappointed many people who want to use it for breeding.
