One of the great treats I had while driving through Kentucky last spring were the biscuits with sorghum-butter spread at a Louisville diner. The sweet, whipped spread melted on the hot fluffy biscuits, tasting lightly of honey. I'd heard of sorghum before, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was.
Sorghum syrup is made from the juice of the sweet sorghum cane, which grows all over the southeastern United States. African slaves introduced sorghum cane to the country in the early 17th century, and it rapidly became popular across the Midwest and, later, the South. A drought-resistant, heat-tolerant crop, it was hoped that sorghum could be used as a substitute for sugar cane, but extracting dry sugar from the syrup proved too difficult.
Sorghum syrup, which tends to be a medium brown in color, can often be used as a substitute for honey or corn syrup. Check out this site for a variety of sorghum recipes, including baked beans, shoo-fly pie, and old-fashioned sorghum cake.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-04-2008 @ 5:10PM
Julie said...
They do have a dark sorghum as well which is more on the order of molasses. Dark sorghum is a very popular dessert topping in the south even the Cracker Barrel Restaurants offer Sorghum Ice cream Sundaes on their menu.
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4-04-2008 @ 6:24PM
Kat Kinsman said...
I've been known to mix up sorghum-sweetened rye cocktails, but I never tell my guests that until after they've had a few sips.
I'm a huge fan of the stuff, but my nephew-in-law patiently explained to me why I was psychotic for feeling that way, as that's what they feed to the pigs in his family.
Oink, oink, I guess.
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4-04-2008 @ 10:51PM
Kitt said...
Thanks for the link! I've got a jar of Ozarks sorghum syrup that was a gift, but I never figured out what to do with it.
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4-05-2008 @ 12:36PM
off2cdwzrd said...
African slaves introduced sorghum??? Because they were allowed to gather up seeds for the various crops they thought they'd need in their new homes before they were rounded up and thrown on slave ships???
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4-07-2008 @ 4:35PM
Baron said...
There is a sorghum based beer out there too. Redridge (I think). It is pretty good and I hear those allergic to gluten can have it as well. In the plains area, we called it milo, which is pretty much a grain sorghum. I'd say that the vast majority of all of it we grew in our area went into feed. It made a mighty good looking feed for cattle.
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4-20-2008 @ 11:32PM
MJ said...
Sorghum molasses is the best! Never had just the Sorghum. The regular molasses is too bitter for me.
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