flavor Sweet sorghum grass of home

Sorghum is a versatile molasses that can be used to make all kinds of sweet treats.
Sorghum is a versatile molasses that can be used to make all kinds of sweet treats.

— Guests visiting Winthrop Rockefeller Institute’s Heritage Farmstead Saturday will enjoy several interactive farming opportunities from another era. As part of the Mountaintop Harvest weekend slate of activities, the Farmstead will be showcasing sustainable agricultural practices of the past and connecting them with those of today.

Saturday activities include making apple butter over an open fire, churning butter, smoking meat, digging peanuts and turning them into peanut butter and picking cotton.

Master Naturalist Don Higgins will give an informal talk about the history of farming on Petit Jean Mountain. While there is no cost to attend the talk, seating is limited and advance registration is highly encouraged.

Participants are also in for a rare treat as they are allowed a glimpse of the old time process of pressing sorghum cane by way of a horse-drawn mill and cooking down the extracted juice. To sweeten the deal, folks are invited to sample the resulting syrup, the principal sweetener of the mountain’s pioneers.

Elizabeth Mattocks, WRI Horticulturalist, spearheaded the resurrection of the sorghum harvest.

“It was growing next to the corn when I came here, and nobody knew much about it, but it was sorghum cane,” she said.

To give credit to the folks at the homestead, sorghum cane looks like corn but without ears. Clusters of tiny seeds top the stalks like tassels. Like corn, sorghum cane makes quite a dramatic statement on the landscape. It grows 6 to 12 feet tall and measures about 2 inches in diameter around the base of the stalk.

Mattocks further discovered the type of sorghum growing wild on the farm was the Honey Drip variety.

“We were all intrigued,” she said. “One of our maintenance employees has family living on the back side of the mountain, and they had an old press they let us have” The concept of putting together an operation to include in the existing farm exhibits took hold.

“Sorghum is a Southern crop,” Mattocks said. “Kentucky and Tennessee are the top two producing states, but it was evident that the crop was grown on the mountain, and so this all worked out beautifully for us.”

Their debut crop didn’t produce the amount they needed Mattocks said. They appealed for outside help.

Phil Parker of Parker Pioneer Homestead in Poinsett County came to the rescue.

“He has the most wonderful facility,” Mattocks said. “More than 3,500 schoolchildren take field trips to his setup every year.

He grows five acres and was kind enough to share with us for our weekend. He didn’t even charge us for it. He said that anybody who grows sorghum is a nice person.”

Scott County extension agent, Shaun Rhoades, who has been cooking syrup for the last few years is adding is expertise to the success of the harvest.

“We’re hoping some old timers will come out and share stories with us,” Mattocks said.

“After all, treasuring the past and passing it down are part of the Rockefeller vision.”

Following are recipes using sorghum. Mattocks shared her favorite recipe.

“I like to eat it slathered on a hot biscuit with a little butter.

You can’t get any better than that,” she said.

Note: The terms sorghum, sorghum molasses and cane syrup are virtually the same product.

SORGHUM MOLASSES POPCORN BALLS Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup sorghum syrup 1/4 cup water 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon butter 2 quarts popped popcorn Butter, for preparing pan and coating hands Directions: In a 2-quart saucepan, combine sugar, sorghum syrup, water, salt and butter. Cook to hard ball stage (250 degrees on a candy thermometer), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and quickly stir in popped corn and turn into a buttered pan.

With buttered hands, shape into balls and place on waxed paper to cool.

Makes about six balls GONE A COURTIN’ SORGHUM PECAN PIE

Ingredients:

1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3 large eggs, beaten

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup pure sorghum molasses, cane syrup, or molasses

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 pie shell

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar and eggs with hand mixer or whisk until just incorporated, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add butter and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix. Add sorghum and pecans and stir to incorporate. Notice the pecans will rise to the surface of the filling.

Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake on the middle rack until the center has risen and is quivery, like gelatin, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 1 hour. Serve warm, topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream or with a scoop of ice cream. Alternately, let the pie cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator and re-warm to serve.

SPICY SORGHUM GINGERBREAD

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup butter

1 cup hot water

1 cup sorghum molasses or regular molasses

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, well beaten

Directions: In a saucepan combine the shortening, butter, water, molasses, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, stir, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add cooled molasses and sugar mixture; stir until well blended and mix in beaten eggs.

Pour into a generously greased and floured 9-by-12-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 to 35 minutes.

Makes one pan of gingerbread. Serve warm or cooled, with whipped cream or dessert sauce.

MAMA’S MOLASSES COOKIES Ingredients: 3/4 cup margarine, melted 1 cup white sugar 1 egg 1/4 cup molasses 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 cup white sugar, reserved for coating Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted margarine, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth.

Stir in the molasses. Combine dry ingredients; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls and coat in remaining sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 67 on 10/08/2009

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