Sorghum

[vfem]

I've heard about it before and meant to look into it a few years ago. Then a sign came, Mother-Earth-News did an article on it and I was fated to find it. I got the article the day before I was to place my order for seed with rareseeds.com. Of course, that was their destination location to finding a ton of seed to choose from.

So this brings me to a few questions.

First -

Has anyone grown this before and found it troubling?

Second-

Taste! If I go out of my way to make this syrup... how do you explain the flavor? I want to make sure my family actually uses this for all my hard work.

Third-

Harvest and juicing, I see the equipment is expensive and heavy. Any suggestions on a good way to create the equipment inexpensively. This is going to be a test run, if it goes well we may invest in the equipment later.

And of course lastly... any advice?!

 

[baymule]

I wait every fall for sorghum syrup! It is the best over biscuits, pancakes......Cheerios, grapefruit salad, in coffee, in a spoon, in bread recipes, pecan pie (instead of Karo syrup) in just about anything! I have been looking at sorghum seed too, but I haven't planted any. Some varieties will produce for several years, the roots live from season to season.

 

[thistlebloom]

V, I've never grown it and can't give you any help on your other questions, but I have tasted it. When I was a kid we always were given jars of it by a neighbor. The taste , at least of the variety we were given, was pretty strong. Along the lines of buckwheat honey.

Before you go to the trouble of growing it why don't you buy a jar of it to see if you like it. I didn't especially like it, but I was a kid then so what did I know?

 

[897tgigvib]

vfem, I've been wanting to do sorghum for several years now too. I joined a facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/110820252374129/?fref=ts

Where the folks talk about the adventure and love of growing and making sorghum syrup. I have a jar in my cupboard.

One of the main things sorghum folks enjoy are the old time mills. Often they are found in some old barn and sometimes in your part of the country vfem.

They find the old iron mills in parts, often lovingly laid to rest under a no longer existing shelf in a windy old barn. These sorghum mills were made by the same companies that made plows in the late 1800's up to around 1920. There indeed are more and more folks who know how to fix them. The construction is apparently very simple.

I know I'd sure like to have one, and sure wish there could be a simple kitchen hand cranked version. But alas, there is no such design...(yet)

Sorghum syrup is a form of sugar mollases, and is a valid shtf sugar. Going to my cupboard right now to get my jar...

My jar is approximately the size and shape of a jelly jar. 1 pound, heavy for its size. It is labelled:

SORGHUM
MOLASSES

Has a cute little painting of some little guy on stilts, and the brand is "making tracks", the stilts have feet that are making tracks

It shows a cluster of sorghum plants with red tops. (They say sorghum grows like corn only easier).

www.makingtracks.com is on the label opening jar...

Smells like mild molasses but sweeter! and very pleasant!!

YUMMM!!!

ME LIKE SORGHUM MOLASSES! OH GOD IT'S GOOD!!!

sorry im gonna be busy eating something with sorghum molasses on it...kinda hard to type while enjoying this!

Like regular molasses only MUCH better! More of a fine light crisp flavor, about sweet as honey...ya know, there is a certain reminiscence of

BEING IN A VERY OLD BARN. yes, an aftertaste, very pleasant, that makes you feel like you are in a very old barn.

And, I am not kidding.

Someone else try to describe the flavor of sorghum syrup. See what you come up with!

 

[897tgigvib]

oh, thistle and bay, your posts were not there when i began typing my post. Mine took quite awhile because, well, my lips are still sticky from the taste test

I think you'll like it more as an adult!

mmm, hafta go wash my face now...

 

[vfem]

Hahaha... I'm glad I got you moving and tasting for me Marshall, I needed an in the moment thought. I can almost feel the tastes you are trying to explain, and its hard to explain things in such a way. But I could tell how intensely you felt

So I have placed my order for the seed along with the rest of my seed from rareseeds.com. I chose the 'Sugar Drip' variety. I have an area I will grow this near my corn so it doesn't shade any other plants on the west side of my garden since the get so large. They should be fine with the corn and the sunflowers this summer.

I think I'm going to rummage around craigslist and the old farm and scrap yards around here and see what I can come up with to mill the juice. I have a mechanic friend who may be of some help with his welding skills to give us some ideas on how to design something if the hunt doesn't turn up anything.

Wish me luck, I'm very excited about this adventure.

 

[897tgigvib]

The mills are quite the old fashioned deal vfem. It sets on a sturdy base. At the top of the mill is the crank, except instead of being a handle, it is more like a thing to put a 25 foot long log pole into.

At the end of that pole is a way to attach to a mule or walking horse, or sometimes a bunch of energetic kids or tractor or lawn tractor, which travel in a slow circle.

the crank turns gears that cause a pair of iron rollers to roll slowly inside the housing. and deleafed stalks are fed into one side and get double pressed and come out the other side.

The raw juice pours into a first pan that has a small fire under it. Experienced people know just how small a fire to keep. Moisture evaporates, and it flows into a second pan. (These pans are usually stainless steel, often refabricated from old cafe style kitchen sinks). The second pan also has a small fire under it.

Sorghum folk talk about their pride and joy triple pan evaporators, and apparently they have awards at county fairs for their molasses that is entered in contests, places like tennessee.

Too little cooking and they say it tastes green. Too much evaporating and they say it tastes strong and burnt. That facebook page has an author who wrote some magazine article about it last year or so, maybe even the article you read, not sure. I think she runs the page.

There is a person on it who lives maybe 50 miles from here who talked about his saga of going to Georgia or somewhere like that to get a mill. So yes, there is a mill now not far from here.

In the old days folks would use each other's mill in trade for some of the molasses. Since you live in the part of the world where the mills and sorghum used to be, there likely are a few mills in your county.

Sorghum folks are friendly. I can sure tell that. Find one near you and they will be pleased as can be to share a sorghum milling day.

 

[hoodat]

I used to grow it as a windbreak in OOOOOKLAHOMA where the wind comes sweeping down the plains (everybody sing). Warning - warning. DO NOT try to drink the unprocessed juice unless you enjoy the sensation of being hit between the eyes with a hammer.
I'm planning to grow it along a south wall this year but I will grow the broomcorn variety.My plan is to use it as living beanpoles and then harvest the grain for my rabbits. That will leave me with the broom ends which I can hopefully sell to florists for dried arrangements or to craftsmen.

 

[MontyJ]

I never grew it, but as a kid down in Kingsville, TX I used to work for a farmer that did. My job was to walk the fields and chop out the sunflowers by hand. After one summer of the heat and occassional rattlesnake, I decided the Navy would be a much better occupation.

 

[897tgigvib]

Oh yes, and supposedly Sorghum grain can be ground to flour that's real good for you.

Uses for Sorghum that I can think of offhand:

Windbreak
Brooms
Decorations
Forage
Silage
Compost crop
Molasses sugar
Grain for animals
Flour
Erosion control
Things I'm forgetting