Growing up I had an Uncle in the country that made sorghum syrup this time of year. I loved watching the process, but it was hot back breaking work. First you would have to harvest the cane from the fields, it is a tall broad leaf cane that resembles a stalk of corn. After he harvested the cane he would hitch his mule to a long pole that when the mule walked around and around in a circle powered the mill that squeezed the stalks to produce a white juice. It ran into a bucket and was taken by the bucket full to a wood-fired, maze like pan that the juice would cook in. The pan was heated beneath from a brick and mud oven which required someone standing close by, that would be me, to throw a few logs into the oven when Uncle Arch would holler for more heat. Man it was hot work as the air would fill with steam and the pan would start to bubble and make the juice frothy. Then came the skimming the juice which was removing a green residue that collected on the top with a paddle. I was to help do that too. Over the next hour or so the juice would go through the maze like pan and be skimmed and by the time the juice got to the end of the pan it is thick and bubbly and dark brown. The bad part other than the heat was it takes 7 gallons of juice to produce 1 gallon of syrup.....but if you have ever had sorghum syrup on a hot buttered biscuit you know it was worth it. Nana would take sorghum and mash it up with butter for my biscuits and she called it Granny Hair. I know that sounds funny but it was melt in your mouth good!!!
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 22:51:33 +0000
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