AN Edinburgh entrepreneur has launched a new alternative to popcorn.

Sydney Chasin – founder of The Healthy Crop – has officially launched her lil’POP snack this week.

Made from sorghum grain, the snack is naturally gluten free, vegan friendly and high in fibre. It is also smaller in shape and size than regular popcorn.

During the sorghum popping process, the hull of the corn does not detach meaning there are no hulls that get caught in your teeth while eating. Unlike popcorn, the unpopped seeds are soft and edible.

Sorghum is also a drought-resistant crop meaning that it can grow where other grains cannot – it has a lower water footprint than typical grains. It is believed that lil’POP is the first snack of its kind in Europe to use sorghum in this way.

Chasin said: “I am incredibly excited to officially bring lil’POP to market. It has been a long time in the making and the process has been challenging, but rewarding.”