We're Raising Cane Down Here!

[DanG]

James G and I went to the annual sugar cane giveaway at the Ag. Experiment Station this morning.  They grow several varieties of sugar cane and test different methods of propagating and fertilizing it, then when it matures they give it away to folks who want to start their own cane patch.  You have to sign a paper saying that you're getting it to plant.  They put on a little class before they turn folks loose in the patch, where they tell you about the different varieties, how to plant and fertilize, and how to make syrup.  It was pretty interesting.  Then they let us go to the cane patch and have at it with our machetes.   There must have been a hundred people swinging all kinds of knives and hatchets around in close proximity to other people!  It's a wonder nobody got hurt, but they didn't, and everybody seemed happy with what they got.  They limited each person to 15 stalks of each variety, so James and I got 30 of each of 3 types.  Ninety stalks will make the beginnings of a pretty nice little cane patch.   We plan to get it in the ground this weekend, then sometime this year we'll have to get the mill up to snuff and get my old Farmall Super C running.  This time next year, we have high hopes of cooking off some syrup. 8) 8) 8)

[Radar67]

Does that mean you are having a syrup party next year?  ;)

[limbrat]

How does that work you fertilize every winter and replant every three years or something like that?

[Ron Wenrich]

They make rum from sugar cane, don' they?   :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

AND Ethanol.  No, wait, he don't need to be buildin a Still  : : :D

[Raider Bill]

Have still will travel.............. can't drink rum but will still for beer.

[IL Bull]

Do you plant the stalks in the ground? ???

[woodbowl]

DanG, can we still get some cane, even though the give away date has passed? I've been thinking about our other syrup making buddy and if he'd like to have some different varieties.

[Raider Bill]

I was very surprised to learn they grow cane in Tenn. Rancher across the road from me has a bunch of it he grinds and mixes with his feed.

[Warbird]

AND Ethanol.  No, wait, he don't need to be buildin a Still  : : :D

Did you mean "Stihl"?  ;)

[DanG]

Radar:  That depends on how things go between now and then.  We got lots to learn about this thang, and lots to do to get the operation going.  If we feel like we're up to it, y'all will sure know about it. ;)

Limbrat:  Yep, that's pretty much the way it is.  Different varieties will regenerate more or less, but most will give you 3 to 5 crops.  I had heard, and it was confirmed, that the types of fertilizers are critical to the taste of the syrup.  Too much nitrogen will "salt" your cane, giving the syrup a bitter flavor.

Wenrich: I dunno. ???

Deadheader:  You got dat right, son!! :D :D

Raider Bill:  Will ya stir syrup fer beer? ;D

Il Bull:  Yep, just make a deep furrow, add fertilizer, and lay the stalks in the row.

Woodbowl:  I'll check, but I think we pretty much leveled the patch.  There's always next year.  There were people there from Ga, Ala, and S. Carolina.  I don't know how the word gets out all over the South, when us locals have a hard time finding out about it. ???

R B: FF member Greg Cook has offered me some Tenn. cane syrup a couple of times, but I ain't managed to get together with him.  I'm hopin' he will see this and have some helpful input. ;D

Warbird: FDH got it right.  I could use a nice Stihl, but a still would be a recipe for disaster around here! :D :D :D

[Raider Bill]

for the Dad that has everything........ my son made me a still for Christmas last year. So far it has been a nice conversation peice in the shop.

[easymoney]

i remember raising cain when i was a boy over 50 years ago. making molasses with a molasses mill ran by a horse going in circles around the press that squezzed out the juice and the pan that cooked the juice into molasses. there was an art to know how to cook it right. i thought the cane was grown from seed that formed near the top of the stalk. is the cane you are talking about something. i grew up on a creek that was called cane creek because a lot of wild cane grew there. that type of cane was only good for fishing poles and stems for corncob pipes.

[DanG]

Easymoney, it sounds like y'all were using Sorghum to make your 'lasses.  The cane you used for fishing poles was bamboo.  The sugar cane we have looks a bit like bamboo, but the joints are not hollow.  They are solid with a fibrous core that is just loaded with sweet juice, and it is what table sugar is made from.  There seems to be much confusion about the relationship between sugar cane syrup and sorghum syrup, but if you taste both, any confusion will be cleared up right quick.  As I learned in the class yesterday, the process for making syrup and that for making sugar is exactly the same.  As you boil the juice and it begins to thicken, the temperature will go up from 212 degrees.  When it reaches 226, it is syrup.  When it reaches 228, it becomes sugar.  You can't dally about when it is ready, or you will lose it.  The old timers have a number of ways to tell when it is ready.  I'm on a mission to talk to as many of those old timers as I can find. ;D :P

[Fla._Deadheader]

Might wanna cornsidder talking to the old wimminses. Back in Arkyland, them was the ones whut did all the rakin of the pan, shovin that juice back and forth and skimmin them suds. The guys did most of the talkin about how things should be done  : : :D

[pineywoods]

Just about all the old timers who made syrup around here have died off. Dang if you are gonna run a batch, be careful what you do with the foam that has to be skimmed off the top. Put in a barrell and left for a couple of days it will ferment into a rather potent brew. The last syrup-making oldtimer in this neighborhood had one old mule to pull the crusher. Came out to the mill one frosty morning to find the mule laying on the ground kicking and hee-hawing. Had gotten into the skimmins barrell and was so drunk he couldn't stand up. Hogs love the stuff. Never tried it myself ;D

[Fla._Deadheader]

I think that's the starting of the Rum process ??? : :

  The left over crushed stalks, dried, make good boiler fuel. Probably soak them in water and ferment for ethanol. ]Then dry them. It's called bagasse.

[Tom]

The woods are full of cane patches and boiling pans around here.

[woodbowl]

 DanG and me headed to a fellows house the other day to watch them cook off a batch of cane syrup. They had a cane mill, a kettle, and a hot fire by the time we got there.




DanG is eyeballing those bisquits to the left of the chimney and thinking .... sure do wish that syrup would get ready.

[woodbowl]

When the syrup got ready, Mr Wade with his homemade bucket dipper started dipping it up.
The blue bucket to the left is for the skimmings.


Putting a board across, to bridge the kettle keeps the drippings from making a big mess as he pours it through the strainers.

[Warbird]

That is awesome!  Did you try any of it yet?  If so, how did it turn out?

[Corley5]

That's  8) 8) 8)  I like the drippings catchers 

[woodbowl]

It's gooood! We both took syrup home with us.

I've got a few more pics comming.

[Mooseherder]

That looks like a great time guys. 8)

[woodbowl]

Straining hot cane syrup  ..... and it's hot too!



This strainer is about full. Shifting the board to another strainer. When the syrup cools just a little it gets thick and moves slower through the strainer.

DanG's still wondering when he's gona get to drag a bisquit. That's them to the right of the chimney.

[woodbowl]

This is the last process, putting in jars. I've got a different idea of the last process. It has to do with a biscuit, pancakes, light bread or ..... even a finger will do.  ;D




Before we left they asked if we would like to drink a little bit of cane juce. There were a few more stalks left so he fired up the tractor and put the stalks of cane through the mill. I held the screen over the jug to keep the cane pieces and  smashed yellow jackets out of the juice.

[WDH]

Now I know why DanG has been thinking about biscuits .

[Don K]

Looks like a lot of fun watching that. I've never seen syrup being cooked. I guess I need to check it out.

Don

[Tom]

Everybody should go to a cane grinding and syrup cooking, at least once in their life. It can be some good old Rural fun.

[WDH]

Kinda like a peanut boiling.  Sorry that you Northern members missed out on peanut boilings when you were growing up.

Do any of y'all like boiled peanuts, or, are they in the same maligned class as grits ???.

[beenthere]

Why do you ask that WDH...do they not have any taste?    : : : ;D ;D ;D  ;) ;)

Any excuse to get together is usually a good time...maple syrup, fish boils, deer hunting, ATV ridin, ..... ;D   The peanut boilin sounds good too..

[pineywoods]

re  boiled peanuts

a waste of a perfectly good food.   Eat'um RAW.

[Corley5]

How many gallons of juice does it take to make a gallon of syrup ???  
I've tried boiled peanuts several times each time thinking/hoping that I'd like them.  I've given up.  I'll stick with roasted peanuts.  I do like grits  ;D

[WDH]

I like a peanut about any way they are prepared.  When I was a kid, we would go dove hunting in peanut fields and build a blind out of peanut vines left over from threshing.  You could sit in the blind and pick off the air-dried raw peanuts and eat them while waiting on the doves.  That was better than the hunting..

Corely5,

There is still hope for you ;D.  (Hope your Mom and Dad are doing well.  They are super nice people.)

[Tom]

Kevin and Tamiam are converts to boiled peanuts.  They got into some at Sawlex and the last time I saw Tamiam, she was looking for more. :D

[Daconant]

Speaking of cane juice, there are few things more refreshing on a hot tropical afternoon than a tall glass of fresh cane juice, lime, and crushed ice. (unless it is the same glass with a little cane rum added ;D). I first had this at a food stand in Singapore and have been a fan ever since.

[isawlogs]

DanG , Woodbowl , thanks , I never did ever get to see any cane , must be cause of the sudden turn around I did when I did almost make it south one time ....  :-\   Anyways , could you take a few pics of the cane it self 'fore its liquide ....  I sure would like to see the whole process .  :P 
  This is really neat ...  How much cane s does it take ... ???  So ya throw a cane in a hole ... its spruts up for three ta five years ... then what , ya start over ... Why does it stop spruting , or is it that after that time the spruts are no more sweet . ???  How tall does the cane reach ...
  I have more questions if ya get bored ...  ;D :D

[SwampDonkey]

I guess I missed this thread some how. Oh!, I was away that week. But, anyway I'm enjoying this thread. Very interesting tradition, similar to our maple syrup season. Well it's more than a tradition I guess, it's an industry. I don't know if I dreamed it, or if I saw pictures of cane cut into short pieces on here, or if I saw cane in the grocery store. I must be losing it, I just can't remember. It must have been the grocery store and I don't know why I think that. I doubt anyone around here would know how to deal with it.

The yellow jackets couldn't taste much worst then the sap flies could they? :D :D

[Furby]

Yup, they sell cane at some grocery stores here, but not year round.

[SwampDonkey]

It might have been a Wal-Mart super center over in Maine.

I have seen fresh figs here, so sugar cane may have been in our Super Store grocery.

[woodbowl]

Marcel, here is a close up of sugar cane. It takes about 10 gallons of juice to produce 1 gallon of syrup.

DanG's got a bug in his computor so he's gonna be out of whack for a few days. He's doing the planting so I'll let him tell you about all that.

[isawlogs]

  Thanks , I sure will be looking for this thread , this is something I aint got any kowledge of what s so ever . Seeing as how sweet this stuff is , I want to know more about how its made .

  Hope Dang can get rid of the problem soon and that it aint a costly splution .

[DanG]

DanG , Woodbowl , thanks , I never did ever get to see any cane , must be cause of the sudden turn around I did when I did almost make it south one time ....  :-\   Anyways , could you take a few pics of the cane it self 'fore its liquide ....  I sure would like to see the whole process .  :P 
  This is really neat ...  How much cane s does it take ... ???  So ya throw a cane in a hole ... its spruts up for three ta five years ... then what , ya start over ... Why does it stop spruting , or is it that after that time the spruts are no more sweet . ???  How tall does the cane reach ...
  I have more questions if ya get bored ...  ;D :D

[DanG]

Oooohh yeah!  I get it now.  Yer supposed to type yer stuff in BEFORE ya hit tha "Post" button, don't ya?! :D :D :D :D

Marcel, ya shoulda just kept on coming south.  It don't really get much hotter once ya pass Maryland or so. :

Actually, sugar cane looks a bit like corn growing.  It is jointed, like bamboo and corn stalks, and has fodder coming from the joints like corn.  It can be quite tall.  The stuff we got for seed was about 10-12 feet tall, but some of that was in the wad of fodder at the top.  The actual viable stalks were more like 5-6 feet long.

It takes about 10 gallons of juice to make one gallon of syrup.  I guess it depends on the cane as to how much cane it takes to make a gallon.  I'm thinkin' ol' Wade said it took about 400 feet of row to make up his 60 gallons of juice that we cooked that day.  If that's the case, I should get about one 80 gallon batch out of what we planted.  I'll try to get some pics up soon.

[billbobtlh]

http://www.southernmatters.com
http://www.syrupmakers.com/cane_syrup.html
Dang DanG That is great you got some this makes two years I have missed out.
Here is lots of great info for everyone on these links.
Lots of picks of cook houses and stories and such...

[SwampDonkey]

I couldn't get them to load bill.  :-\

never mind, browser went berserk and thought it was an ftp server for some reason. :