Sorghum v. Molasses

Good day to you!

I hope you had a fine week.  All was solid in my world, but I wouldn’t mind slowing time down just a little bit.  The noise from the hawks across the street is becoming less frequent, which tells me the fledglings are flying further afield and starting to take care of themselves.

Yesterday I enjoyed the first batch of Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato sandwiches featuring bread, tomatoes and lettuce from the farmers market.  Truly one of my favorite summer time foods.  Zucchini fritters are on my mind, so they’ll be on my plate soon.

Yesterday morning I baked some buttermilk biscuit trimmings (the scraps left over after cutting a batch of biscuits), topping them with a little pan of sausage gravy that I made using Copia Farms’ spicy sausage patties.  There were a few little pieces of biscuit left over, which I topped with some molasses as a sweet finish.

I genuinely love the dark, sweet taste of molasses and its close cousin, sweet sorghum.  It is for me one of the defining flavors of Appalachian cuisine.  The differences between the two are somewhat subtle.  Sweet sorghum is made by boiling down the juices squeezed out of sorghum cane, and molasses is made by boiling down the juices squeezed from sugar cane.  These two different varieties of cane are both members of the grass family (as is sweet corn, which also grows in similar looking stalks), which results in slightly different characteristics.

Sorghum tends to lighter in color, a bit thinner and slightly sweeter. It tends to be used more as a syrup topping than a baking ingredient.  The more you boil sorghum, the denser and darker the liquid becomes, but it never crystalizes.  Molasses will crystallize if reduced too much.  Sorghum is also higher in calories than Molasses or Maple Syrup, and surprisingly rich in iron, calcium and potassium.

I’m partial to Sorghum because it is what my grandfather used to make on his mountain top in West Virginia.  It is a laborious process that requires a lot of time.  First the stalks of the sorghum cane must be cut, then run through a press (which back in the day was powered by a mule walking around in a circle, a beam connected to it that turned the crank of the press).  The pressed juices would be passed through some cheesecloth to filter out particulate, and the liquid would then be boiled in a wide, long and shallow evaporator pan to reduce it into the concentrated syrup.  This video provides a good overview of the process.

A good BLT sandwich.  A nice buttermilk biscuit.  And molasses, (or sweet sorghum).  Tastes of summer, and tastes of my heritage.  I don’t care how hot it gets these next few weeks.  I’m going to soak it up and keep enjoying the bounty.

Sunday Supper
Rolling with this week’s theme, how about these Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, with this Dilled Potato Salad and this Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake for dessert.  Enjoy!

Sunday Music
This performance of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit with special guest Mike McCready is really nice.  And this live set by John Mayer earlier this summer was a surprise to people attending an Ed Sheeran show earlier this summer.    

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal