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We're Raising Cane Down Here!

Started by DanG, November 05, 2007, 11:09:21 PM

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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. :o :o  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)
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Radar67

Does that mean you are having a syrup party next year?  ;)
"A man's time is the most valuable gift he can give another." TOM

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This will kill you, that will kill you, heck...life will kill you, but you got to live it!

"The man who can comprehend the why, can create the how." SFC J

limbrat

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

Ron Wenrich

They make rum from sugar cane, don' they?   :D
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Fla._Deadheader


AND Ethanol.  No, wait, he don't need to be buildin a Still  :o :o ::) ::) :D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Raider Bill

Have still will travel.............. can't drink rum but will still for beer.
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

IL Bull

Do you plant the stalks in the ground? ???
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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.
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

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.
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Warbird

Quote from: Fla._Deadheader on November 06, 2007, 08:28:27 AM

AND Ethanol.  No, wait, he don't need to be buildin a Still  :o :o ::) ::) :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! :o :D :D :D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

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.
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

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
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

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
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

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
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

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.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

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.
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

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.
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

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  :)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

woodbowl

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

I've got a few more pics comming.
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

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.
Full time custom sawing at the customers site since 1995.  WoodMizer LT40 Super Hyd.

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