you wouldn’t think that these tall canes could be responsible for something as tasty as sorghum. sometimes called molasses, sorghum is a well kept southern secret. don’t be fooled by the reference to molasses, it may taste similar but sorghum is it’s own product whereas molasses is what is leftover from the refining process of cane and beet sugar-the “garbage” that they remove to make it white.

the seeds are an important grain in places like africa but they can also be ground into a gluten free flour. in my neighborhood, i can find it in the indian markets and at some point i want to buy some and try it out in some bread.

the tall stalks are cut, pressed for the juices and the juices are cooked down to make the sorghum. 5 gallons of juice will yield about one gallon of sorghum. every fall in the ellington agricultural center in nashville there is a music and molasses festival. i have watched them make the sorghum many times and have some pictures posted here.

my book wouldn’t be complete without at least one sorghum cake and here it is. a sorghum spice cake drizzled with some lemony glaze.