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Mega Good Molasses

Started by Deadwood, December 17, 2005, 01:40:29 PM

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Deadwood

There was quite the discussion on Maple Syrup and I was pleased to see that many of the traditions I grew up, still live on nationally and internationally with that time-honored harvest.

My wife though has never dealt much with Molasses other than to make some cookies with it now and then. Myself, I'm addicted to the stuff. I use it in my coffee everyday and to have molasses with biscuits, well that is a meal unto itself. Its a long standing tradition in my family, but one she scoffed at and is constantly teasing me about.

Does anyone else use Molasses in their coffee or on their busicuits for a meal?

Fla._Deadheader


You've GOT to be kidding, right ?'  Grits and Molasses is what keeps the South together. Breakfast of Southern Gentlemen, including DanG and Woodbowl.  ::) ;D :D :D :D :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)

crtreedude

Well Harold - molasses is alive and well down here - during sugar cane season - I drive right by the mill - there is molasses in the air. You can gain a pound just by having the windows down.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

Fla._Deadheader


Very true, Fred.
  I youster hep out on a Cane cookin in Arkansas. Takes several women to keep skimming the foam and pushing the juice back over the pan, until that Molasses is clear and sweet. Pan was like a mouse maze game board, all copper and dividers across with one end short enough to allow the juice to flow.  Wood fire and all. Guy used a 9N Ford on the mill, since he wore out his last Jenny.  ;D ;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)

SwampDonkey

WHAT do you think holds our saturday oven baked beans together up here?! Also, some mollasses on some of grandma's homemade bis'ns will stick to your ribs. And HERMITS, I SAY HERMITS BOY requires mollasses as well. :D There is a thread buried somewhere on here with the recipe. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Fla._Deadheader

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)

Ernie

Pork and beans with molasses-  ya can't beat it.

My neighbour gets the stuff in bulk for his cattle and every year Ii fill a few 200 litre drums.  I tried watering some down, fermenting then distilling it.  Sure was deadly, maybe it should age more that a day ;D ;D
A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

etat

Worst job I ever had in my was when I was about 9 or 10 years old managed to grab me a job stripping the leaves off of sorghum by hand.  I got in with a bunch down on the Trace and they hired some  us school boys to help make it the old fashioned way.  I made the mistake of wearing a short sleeve shirt while wading through them wind blown stalks and stripping them leaves off of it with a stick.  It was GREAT fun for a couple of hours but when the sun came out good and hot it like to have eat me up.  The only redeeming part was when we'd get a wagon load and get to ride to the mill and sample the fixings.  I stuck with it  but I hadn't ever wanted to get home and get in a tub of water so bad in my life!!!!


I still sure do like sorghum molasses and biscuits and butter though!!!!!!!!  Either that or pour a little bit on yer sausage......MMMMMm good eating!!   8) 8) 8)
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

Tom

Y'all gotta be talking about Cane Syrup, not Molasses.  If we got down to molasses in our house, we were out of food.   Molasses is for cooking.  I've tried to eat it on things that normally would put syrup on and my constitution isn't strong enough to take it.

Cane syrup?  Oh Yes!    I mix it in a glass of water and drink it.  (sweet'n water).   I put it on my pancakes, biscuits and drink it straight out of the bottle.  You can't beat the pick-me-up of cane syrup in the middle of a hard days work. :)

maple flats

We used to go to a farm store and buy mollasses for cows. My wife then made mollasses cookies out of them. She had to cut the amount used cause it is far more concentrated than what you get in the grocery store, but it sure did make good cookies and the price was way cheaper. 8) 8)
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

etat

Well not me, I'm talking about pure sorghum molasses so thick you can't hardly pour it outta a jar.  You stick your fork in there and twist it around a couple of times.  As you raise it up you spin it around and around and it's thick enough it'll hang on your fork until you get it on yer plate.   It'll about tear your biscuit when yer smearing it on it and yer sausage will want to move around. I guess I misspoke when I said pour it on yer sausage, I shoulda said smear it.  It's not near as sweet as cane syrup and if it's cooked down tooooo thick it'll scorch some and taste really bitter.  Leave it in a jar too long and it'll turn to sugar.   If you ain't used to it it's got just of a tinge of a bitter flavor to the sweetness.
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

crtreedude

Tom,

You would enjoy a drink here probably - agua dulce - sweet water. Crush some sugarcane into some water and drink.

Way too sweet for me. I find the Ticos are always giving me stuff to try, but given their sense of humor, I have them go first...

I have set around gnawing on sugarcane before - not bad.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

Onthesauk

Grew up eating molasses on corn bread.  Still one of my favorites today, (right after side pork gravy!)
John Deere 3038E
Sukuki LT-F500

Don't attribute irritating behavior to malevolence when mere stupidity will suffice as an explanation.

Tom

Yep!  That's Molasses.  I'll leave you the jar and beg for some if I run out of cane syrup. :D

Molasses is what's left after the sugar has been refined out of it.  Everybody to his own tastes, there's just some things I push way way down the list.   I understand though, I like Bock and have acquired a taste for Vegemite and Marmite.  That doesn't leave me too much room to turn my nose up at other's preferences.  :D :D

SwampDonkey

Cane don't grow that well up here, so we gots to take what's we can gets. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

crtreedude

Honestly, I get a hankering for blackstrap molasses at times - the stronger the better. Take a little bit, put in on a plate and mix some peanut butter - and some regular butter and smear it in thick layers on toast or biscuits...

My mouth is watering...  ::)
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Fla._Deadheader


  Gotta go with CK on this one, Tom. Grandad called THEM good Molasses. That was in Arkansas.  8)
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

Well, Y'all keep a good stock of it so's I'll know where it is if I ever run out of Syrup.  :D

CHARLIE

I agree with Tom.  Give me some good ol' 100% cane syrup and use the molasses for baked beans and molasses cookies.

Back in the mid-1960's I was a freight conductor for the Florida East Coast Cane Train and I ran 12 trips a day (12 frackin' wheel reports!!!) hauling cane from the fields to the sugar mill at canal point and leaving some for Atlantic Coast Line to take to the Clewiston Plant. Then I'd haul empty cars back out to the sidetracks to be loaded again.  Then, I'd also haul out boxcars of raw sugar and tank cars of pure molasses. They were lined up for the through freight that took them to Fort Pierce.....and then I reckon they went on up to Jacksonville.  I used to love to chew on the sugar cane too. Just peel a stalk, cut off a bit and chew it up. Sure is sweet.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

etat

When I was down on the trace they weren't refining no sugar outta it.  The taller and older boys had a little curved knife, they'd cut the top outta the stalks and let em hit the ground.  My bunch would come through with sticks cut kinda like swords and we'd strip the leaves off of it and it still standing.  Another bunch came behind us with bigger knifes and they'd cut the stalks off close to the ground.

When we all got ahead a little bit we'd load them stalks in a wagon behind a team of horses.  Then we'd haul em to the mill which would crush and mash the stalks until the raw syrup came outta em.   The mill was turned by a mule as I remember. Then it was cooked out on a big wide flat trough (for some reason I'm wanting to say copper) with a fire under it.  They wouldn't run the liquid on there but I'm 'wanting' to say about a 1/4 inch thick or so as the moisture would cook out quick. (ain't sure exactly of that and seems like they had to keep it skimmed off too).  Had another guy with a big scraper of some kind that would scrape it off  into a bucket or something to later be poured up into the jars.

As I remember it had to be scraped off when it was just right and they made some good molasses there.  As I said earlier it was a exhibit for the public too.  Scrape that trough off too quick and it wouldn't be cooked enough, leave it a few seconds too long and it'd scorch em making em really really bitter.

I 'think' not sure but I believe most commercial molasses like in the stores ain't the pure stuff.  Won't swear to it.

Now, all of this was a looooooooong time ago so if my details ain't exactly right it's cause I can't remember.  That said one thing I am sure of is they didn't refine any sugar outta it first.   :)
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

Fla._Deadheader


That's exactly the way I saw it worked, CK.  8)
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)

thecfarm

Biscuits and a whole bunch of homemade butter,leave it on the cookstove for the butter to melt,put the molasses on them,and what more could a Mainer ask for.Crackers and milk is right up there too.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Tom

Now we get to the crux of the problem.  It's definition, CK. :D :D


After the cane is stripped and cut, it is "squeezed".  It isn't syrup that comes out, it is "cane juice".   the cane juice is boiled in big pans until the water evaporates out and the skimmings are taken off with a ladle.  The skimmngs are "trash" and impurities.  At a certain time, determined by the cooker, the "Syrup" is removed and cooled.  Take it off too early and it is full of water and will sour.  Take if off too late and it will be burned and have a caramel taste at best or a 'molasses' taste at worse.

Molasses is the thick, dark semi-liquid that is left after refining sugar.  The refining is done chemically with sulphur fumes and/or a second boiling.  But it isn't malasses until the sugar has been removed. :)

Here is wikipedia's description.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses#Cane_Molasses

I think that the link I left on the  sawing at the airport thread had a description of making syrup and molasses too.

etat

 8) 8) 8)


Truthfully and honestly, I don't remember if they boiled it more than once or not.  I do remember seeing them skiming some foam off of it.  What I saw was better than forty years ago and I was hot, tired, sweaty, and itchy.   :D
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

SwampDonkey

 You guys are 8) 8) I'de like to poke a little fun, but I'm gonna refrain. ;D

:D :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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