SORGHUM

For those who aren’t sure what the difference is between sorghum, corn syrup and molasses. Sorghum is made from juice extracted from the stalk of the sweet sorghum plant, corn syrup is made from juice extracted from the grain of a corn (maze) plant, molasses is a by product of the sugar industry, and Blackstrap is simply molasses from which a greater amount of sugar has been extracted.

Prior to the Civil War sorghum was produced in at least 25 states with Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana accounting for half of the total. During the 1860s it would sell for about 50-60 cents per gallon. After the Civil War sorghum production shifted to the southern states. In the 1880’s and 90’s sweeteners made from both sugar beets and sugar cane proved to be more economical and combined with the rise in use of corn syrup sorghum production declined.

The buildings seen here are from what was once the Weimer’s Sorghum Mill and farm located at the edge of Union City, Ohio on Worth Road.

Established in 1904 by Peter Weimer, then purchased in 1913 by J.H. Weimer, it operated until the 1970s. Farms in the area raised and brought to the mill what many locals referred to as “sugar cane” but was actually the stalk or cane of sweet sorghum, also called “sorgo”. Related to millet, sorghum plants look much like corn when you see them growing in a field as it has similar wide blade-shaped leaves but there are no ears and the leaves, stalk and seed head have a reddish tinge. Stalks of sweet sorghum will stand up to 10 feet tall. More commonly seen on Ohio and Indiana farms today is grain sorghum which is shorter and has a larger seed head, it is grown for livestock feed and known as “Milo”.

This is an old Parker and Hood sorghum mill head that was manufactured in Ripley, Ohio. The mill head would crush the stalks to extract the juice which was then boiled down to produce the syrup.

Sorghum contains nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium and some consider it a healthier sweetener than refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Sorghum can replace honey one to one or molasses reduced by 1/3 in most recipes as long as baking soda is also called for. When a recipe calls for granulated sugar it is best to only replace 50% to 75% of the sugar, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda if none was called for while reducing the liquid by 1/3. RMB