Battle Ground company says its sorghum tortilla chips are the first of their kind

In 2013, Nate McClellan began marketing popped sorghum as a better and more nutritious alternative to popcorn, especially for those with gluten intolerance or other gastrointestinal conditions.

Now, the La Center resident has introduced a new snack.

His Battle Ground-based company, Smilo, recently launched what McClellan believes is the United States’ first tortilla chip made from sorghum, an ancient, gluten-free cereal grain most commonly used as feed for livestock.

“It tastes amazing, and it’s the first of its kind,” he said.

Smilo, also known as Nature Nate’s LLC, partnered with Three Sisters Nixtamal , a Portland-based food manufacturer, to produce the tortilla chips. The sorghum in the chips undergoes nixtamalization, a process that prepares the grain to be made into tortillas,