As my 19 year old son would say "Way cool". ----- Original Message ----- From: "G. Lee Hearl" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2000 12:34 PM Subject: Re: [TNWASHIN] Molasses Making Time > To All: > I read and keep a lot of the stories about the "old days". > I still make molasses the old fashioned way.. My cousin and I (both > retired) re-stocked a very old cane mill and have made molassess the last > three years.. Some very good, some not so good! > We have a 130 gallon molasses pan, it takes about three hours to grind > enough cane to fill the pan about full (100 gal) Then we boil and skim it > for approximately 7 hours, ending up with about 10 gal. of molasses.. > Neither of us knew much about making molasses when we started.. All of our > neighbors came in to help us when we started boiling and we learned a lot > from them. I was about ten years old when my father made about a hundred > gallons just before WWII.. We had plenty of "brown sugar" during the war > when sugar was rationed.. > I couldn't help but notice that some of you have been calling it the > "churning stick" when talking about making butter, well that is actually > the "churn dasher".. it had cross pieces on the end which "beat" the sour > cream and separated the butter from the butter milk.. By adding a little > hot water, the butter would form quicker but it came out white instead of > yellow... > I've deen down all these roads when I was a boy! > G. Lee Hearl... Authentic Appalachain Storyteller.. Abingdon, Va... >