Tef, Ethiopia’s grain

Tef (Eragrostis tef) is an annual cereal grass domesticated in the highlands of Ethiopia, where nearly all of the world’s crop is still grown. Its seed is among the smallest of any grain — and it is the foundation of the national table: ground into flour and fermented, it becomes injera, the sourdough flatbread on which Ethiopian meals are served.

A field of tef in seed moves like water — the crop is cut, threshed and winnowed, and the tiny grain is milled for the batter that gives injera its spongy crumb and gentle sourness. Tef is also valued as fodder, and its straw binds the mud plaster of highland building.

Tef is a crop of the highlands. Begin with the highland regions:

Sources: Britannica — teff · Britannica — injera. The photographs are the gift of Elizabeth Laird, from her own colour slides of Ethiopia — used with the photographer’s permission.