The picture was of an older, sunburned man feeding either sugar cane or corn stalks through a grinder. The grinder was powered by his horse, treading a slow circle around the man and his mill. That plant was sorghum, a "grass" just like sugar cane that's grown throughout Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, etc. After grinding the juice out, the man cooked it in a giant cauldron until it became a frightening, foaming greenish-brown syrup.
It's hard to find sorghum up here in Pennsylvania. Sorghum molasses production has been declining since the 1900's because it's so labor intensive to produce. I only saw one commercial bottle, which under closer inspection read "A sorghum-inspired syrup. Ingredients: Sugar Cane Molasses and Corn Syrup."
Thankfully, the web came to the rescue. A few days later I had a box of Jonas Yoder's Pure Sorghum Molasses from Marion, KY at my door. It did have a slightly yellow-green tint, just like in the Time Life book. Its texture was odd, like a cross between crystallized honey and smooth honey. The crystals would slowly melt on your tongue, releasing a sweet, husky flavor akin to buckwheat or chestnut honey. It didn't have the bitterness of chestnut honey, but instead a slightly smokey, barely perceptible astringent flavor. Like a green tea that brewed just a minute too long. You can only eat so much sorghum straight from the jar, so I took a cue from the Time-Life cookbook and made a pie.
1 comments :
I really liked the Sorghum on Ice Cream. YUM! ;-]
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