There is nothing better than sorghum on hot cornbread or on hot biscuits... I remember my mom always having it on the kitchen table at meal time growing up.. I found some a few years back at a roadside stand in Arkansas but haven't found any since... sure brought back some great memories tho..... Sally Standley ----- Original Message ----- From: "MaryCarol" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 2:06 AM Subject: [TNWEAKLE] Making sorghum molasses > MAKING SORGHUM MOLASSES > > This was the latest article published in the Cumberland > Lore...Archives Publication by Jeannie Travis - she has given > permission to share it. > > "This nippy Fall weather reminds me of the good old days when times > were hard. When I was growing up folks didn't have a sorghum cooking > apparatus, but one traveled around and would set up at one farm or > another..You hauled your sorghum to the Mill.....I suppose the farms > owner got a small portion of the sorghum...and probably got to run > his through first. Wood supplied the heat but I don't know who > supplied that. > > We grew the sorghum like corn, and in the fall cut it down after the > men had gone through each row and knocked off all the leaves with a > sort of wooden sword. . Then they went back through and cut it all > down with a blade on a long handle.....Then it was piled up at the > side. I can > remember cutting off sorghum heads when I was real little..maybe 7 > years old. It was SO cold I was crying...remember cutting nicks out > of my knees with the big Butcher knife Daddy made from a saw blade. > > The sorghum was loaded onto a wagon ..all straight and nice, and > hauled away....We took some of the seed heads to the house to feed > the chickens, but I don't remember Daddy saving all the heads for > winter. A mule pulled the long handle{sweep } that was attached to > the crusher, and an elderly man sat up under that long sweep and fed > the cane into the crusher. The juice came out one side and crushed > stalks came out the other..Bagasse, I think they call it. The juice > is poured into a big flat pan that has a fir burning under it. Men > stir the syrup as it cooks till it get > thick...Once Daddy was helping a neighbor make up sorghum and he > brought home a quart jar of the golden foam that they had skimmed > off..... > > That pan they cook the syrup in has always fascinated me...They keep > on adding fresh syrup to it on one end , and it is stirred, stirred , > stirred! The heat from the fires burning under it and the men's > paddles causes the liquid to thicken and is moved from one end of the > 'pan' to > another. It is then drained out into glass jugs or jars and sold or > used in the home kitchen as ' Long sweetnin'... > > On cold winter mornings the delicious thick syrup flowed > slowwwllllyyy over the rim of the syrup jar ..It had beautiful amber > bubbles in it and they would stretch out like a rubber balloon. > Folks said kids were as slow as Sorghum molasses... Sure tasted good > when we mixed molasses and butter on our plate, and sopped it up with > one of Mama's big flaky biscuits" > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 5675 (20101205) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 5675 (20101205) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com