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?
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 ;)
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.
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
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
Right ON, SD 8) 8) 8)
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
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)
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. :)
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)
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.
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.
Grew up eating molasses on corn bread. Still one of my favorites today, (right after side pork gravy!)
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
Cane don't grow that well up here, so we gots to take what's we can gets. ;D
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... ::)
Gotta go with CK on this one, Tom. Grandad called THEM good Molasses. That was in Arkansas. 8)
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
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.
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. :)
That's exactly the way I saw it worked, CK. 8)
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.
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.
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
You guys are 8) 8) I'de like to poke a little fun, but I'm gonna refrain. ;D
:D :D
QuoteI'de like to poke a little fun, but I'm gonna refrain.
It's a dang good thing too!!!!!!!!!
Just kidding!!!!!!!!!! 8) 8) 8) 8)
Check this link, I didn't know either. What I grew up calling molasses was "sweet sorghum syrup"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sorghum
We called cane syrup cay row and my feelings about true blackstrap are that , well, it ain't fittin.
The jar of homemade sorghum squeezins at the dinner table tonite was hand labelled "Molasses" :D.
I guess I had never thought about the two sources and one name.
We had some of those orange taters for dinner that nobody seems to know what to call too, but I ain't going there ;D
hey, that's what we call sorghum molasses around here!!!!!!!! 8) 8) 8)
http://www.karosyrup.com/history.asp
Now, observe the silence. We are getting to the point on most forums were a fight insues. :D
At the risk of appearing to be a know-it-all, even though I am, I'll refrain from further intellectual expounding on this subject.
Well, at least until I can't stand being in the background anymore. :D
My mother went on a health food kick and fed us a spoonful of black strap molasses in the morning. OOH YUCK. Then it was wheat germ in a glass of milk. She didn't see the humor when we offered to substitute sawdust from dad's shop and save her the cost ;D
Yummy! sweet brown liquid stuff... :D I don't care what ya call it... if it won't tear your biscuit, it ain't right.... I get mine at a gas station of all places...
From MS if I remember reading the label right...
What we got around here ain't made from Sorghum, it is made from Ribbon Cane. Sorghum is a grain. Cane is a grass. There are numerous varieties of Cane available, mainly classified as green or red. The green cane makes the best syrup, and the red is best for chewing. I don't particularly care for chewing cane or drinking the pure cane juice, as it is just too DanG sweet for my taste, but I do love some GOOD cane syrup. That's getting harder and harder to find, these days, as the old timers that really know their stuff are dying out. There's a bunch of fellers who know how to make the syrup alright, but their Granddaddies didn't teach them how to grow the cane. My neighbor know's how. ;D Ya see, his Daddy and the man who used to own my place was partners in a cane syrup business. The mill and furnace are sitting in my front yard, about 40 feet from where I'm typing this. The neighbor has the "kettle" that the old furnace was made for. We've been talking for several years, about starting us a little patch and playing around with it a little, but so far it has just been talk. Maybe one year we'll make it happen. I've bought a bunch of cane syrup over the last few years, and it always seems to disappoint me. It has a bitter or burnt flavor I just don't care for. I want to learn how to make it light and sweet, like I remember from days gone by.
QuoteI don't care what ya call it... if it won't tear your biscuit, it ain't right.... I get mine at a gas station of all places...
From MS if I remember reading the label right...
;D
compared to our version of mollasses karo syrup is way too sweet and watey.........
Yes it does have a tinge of a bitter flavor but it should not have a burnt flavor. If it does it was scorched.
Disclamer: the only thing I know for SURE, is what it's supposed to taste like when it's made right.
8) 8) 8)
Now you done went and lit the fire under the kettle, Tom! I ain't got no notion of stayin' in the background on this'un.
That "Karo" link you shoved out there is just advertisin'. Corporate propaganda, that's what it is. Where do you reckon they came up with the name, "Karo?" Well, I just might be able to provide a little insight. Ya see, my G-G-G-Granddaddy lived at a little spot called Beachton, Ga. He was a cooper. Made barrels for the cane syrup industry in a bigger town just to his north, call Cairo, Ga. Now this Cairo, in Georgia, isn't quite like that Cairo in Egypt, because it is pronounced "KARO", not "KIRO". Cairo, Ga was, at one time, the cane syrup Capitol of the whole wide world. In fact, their high school still call's it's teams "The Syrupmakers." Ya see, back in those days, it was like Florida didn't even exist, and the south part of Georgia was about as far south as it got. The sugar cane industry in the West Indies was kaput because the slave uprisings had killed off all the White folks there. You can grow some fine sugar cane around here, so they did, and wagon-trained the syrup to St. Marks, Fla(just below Tallahassee) to be shipped to New Orleans where the sugar refineries were.
My feeling is, and I can't prove it, that the big "food" company came up with a corn product that they could pass off as being the real deal, so they adopted the name "Karo" to make folks think it came from Cairo.
I KNOW i'm being obnoxous and beating a dead horse but this is very similar to what i saw done all them years ago. What I was calling a trough they are calling a vat
[The process consisted in passing the cane through iron rolls operated by water power, (MULE) which pressed out the juice and by means of a wooden spout conveyed it into a barrel to be dipped up in buckets into a boiling vat placed on a brick or adobe furnace. The vat was about twenty feet in length and divided into many sections. As the juice passed from one section to another, it was skimmed, and the skimmings preserved to be converted into vinegar. At the end of the cooking, the skimmings became a better quality and were in great demand by the boys and girls who brought their containers for skimmings to be made into candy.
When the liquid reached the last section of the vat and was sufficiently cooked and of the right consistency, it was run into a cooling vat, afterwards to be put in barrels. One-third of the molasses was retained by the mill for service rendered, and the other two-thirds turned over to the producer of the cane. Practically all the farmers had a patch of sorghum cane, and each farmer's cane was piled separately. The owner was required to furnish enough cedar wood to boil the juice from his pile of cane.] (Early History of American Fork p. 102-103)
The WHOLE process, beginning to end, including stripping by hand (what I got stucked with)!!!!!!!!!
PICTURES AND ALL!!!!
hehehehhe
SORGHUM MOLASSES link
(http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/sp74f.htm)
8) 8) 8) 8)
Are you guys about to start a food fight? :o If so, I am going to duck before some of it hits me!
When I am driving between here and the fincas I pass through sugar cane fields. When it is blooming it looks all grey like - the first time I saw it I thought there was widespread flooding. ::)
The sugercane is hauled to the processing plant by tractors, usually with 4 trailers behind. Most of the work is done by Nicaraguans - I think the Costa Ricans agree with you CK - it is nasty work.
It is also dangerous - in the cane fields there are coral snakes.
A friend of mine from Canada wrote the following once regarding how they still do it in some parts of Costa Rica:
My wife and I watched the whole process of making this stuff last year in an old
trapiche. Took all day starting with a pair of oxen powering the machine that
crushes sugar cane. Very like making maple syrup (which we do for ourselves in
Canada). Simply reduce the juice from crushed sugar cane, a.k.a. sap, by
boiling, then work it and cast into blocks. The wooden molds produced dark brown
blocks about the size of margarine tubs. Absolutely pure, nothing added.
So similar was the process that we put a block of the (dry) finished product in
a saucepan and re-liquefied it, then strained it into a bottle. Bingo. A great
maple syrup substitute for pancakes for negligible cost.
Excellent link, CK.
That's exactly the way it was in them Ozarks.
Mr. Tabor, living along Crooked Creek, in Pyatt, Marion County, is the gentleman I had the pleasure of knowing and working with. Brings back memories.
WHOA--- did I just say that ?? ::) ::) That was back in the last Century. ::) ::) ;D :D
CRTREEDUDE reminded me of how the sugar cane was harvested in the Belle Glade, Florida area back in the mid-1960's. I have no idea if it has changed or not.
It's tough and dirty work harvesting the cane and at that time the field owners brought in Jamaicans to harvest. They had razor sharp machetes with a hook on the spine side at the end which they used to strip the leaves. When I say the machetes were kept razor sharp, I'm very serious. You could shave with them.
First thing that happened was the field was set on fire. Many of the townfolk and Jamaican families surrounded the field all holding sticks and clubs. When the field was set on fire, anything that came running out was killed.....mostly, rabbits, snakes, mice and rats. I think they kept the rabbits for dinner.....maybe some of the snakes too.
The next day the Jamaicans would put on their metal shin guard, in case the machete accidently hit their leg, and started cutting. They got paid by the row. It seems that the cane was cut, stripped and cut into about 3 foot long pieces. They got paid by the row. I'm sure some of the cane was kept for replanting. What is done is a piece of the cane that has the joint is laid into the ground and covered. The root comes out from the joint and a new plant emerges. Also, I was told that sometimes the workers got into argurments and went at each other with their machetes.......not a pretty picture I imagine.
Large Catapillars with a train of sidedump cane cars (usually about 6 to 8 ) would be filled with the cut cane. They would pull their train of cane cars over to the railroad siding where empty train cane cars were waiting. There was an earthen hill built next to the sidetrack and the Catapillar driver would pull his little train of sidedump cars up the hill, which was a little higher than the railroad cars, and dump their cane.
Then the railroad would take the loaded cane cars to the sugar mill. The mill at Canal Point was owned by U.S. Sugar. I don't think they refined the sugar there. What was shipped out were box cars full of raw sugar and tank cars full of molasses.
They were long days for everyone. I know I worked 14 to 16 hour days, 7 days a week hauling the cane to the mills. So I imagine the Jamaicans were also putting in at least 12 hour days in the field cutting it.....an y'all have to rememeber.......it was in the heat of the Florida day. Hot, hard work. Think of that next time you put a teaspoon of sugar on something. :)
Quote from: Tom on December 17, 2005, 11:32:20 PM
http://www.karosyrup.com/history.as
At the risk of appearing to be a know-it-all, even though I am
That's really subtle , Tom :D :D Looks almost like a know-it-all convention here ;)
Well, being a KIA myself, I'll try to clarify some stuff here ::)
First of all, all these plants are grasses, including corn from which corn syrup is made.
The blackstrap molasses that is a byproduct of sugar manufacturing is used as a cattle feed.
Sorghum plants vary from shorter varieties (milo) that have a lower sugar content and higher grain production to very tall plants plants that are high in sugar content, but low grain producers. These are often called cane. The sweeter ones are used more for silage and used to be shocked and used as fodder. There are all kinds of intermediate varieties as well as crosses with sudan grass that is used for silage, green chop, and pasture.
One particular variety of cane is 'orange cane' which was a favorite in the ozarks for making sorghum molasses.
The leaves and grain heads were removed (stripped)before milling to prevent the end product from being bitter. Around here the partitioned vessles used to cook down the juice was always referred to as a pan,
The slickest home operation I ever saw used a belt operated mill and stainless steel pans. An old steam engine was used to power the mill and steam from the boiler was used to cook down the syrup. This was in operation at the junction of hwy 54 and 13 at Collins Mo. until the mid 1970's
That home made butter was always kept on our table and was fairly soft. It was mixed in about equal parts with molasses, corn syrup, or honey (depending on what was available) and stirred right on your plate till it was well blended and then applied to your biscuits.
CANE SYRUP! ;D
I used to be able to buy cane syrup (Cane Brake Brand) at the Winn Dixie but they have shut all their stores in my area. Can only get Log Cabin, etc. at the store now and it ain't even close! Do any of y'all know where I might could find real cane syrup? Thanks! 8)
When I was livin in Arkansas, my old neighbor was about elebenty hunnert years old, and made syrup each and every year...here is his definitions of stages of mo-lasses
Light molasses comes from the first boiling of the sugar cane syrup.Golden in color and mild in flavor.It is popular as pancake syrup.
Dark molassed comes from a second boiling and is darker,thicker and less sweet than light molasses.This kind of molasses is generally used in recipes like gingerbrea,baked beans,etc.
Light and dark molasses are interchangeable in recipes,although dark molasses provides more robust flavor.
The third boiling results in blackstrap molasses.This very thick,dark and somewhat bitter molasses is generally found in health food stores or used in cattle feed.
Ain't it funny how the same things are called something different across the country :D
Backer Plug, we can probbly handle dat. Let's get Christmas behind us and you remind me. I'll be on the lookout, since I need to get some, too. ;) :)
My Great uncle John used to make molasses, just barely remember him doing it, used a horse to turn the mill and cooked it down in a copper pan. His old mill, pan and all used to be piled up at his old home place, don't know if it is still there or not. Probably not but It would be an adventure to go back and see. My dad used to say that the molasses had a better flavor if the cook didn't chew tobacco. It seems as tho someone had to keep working it back and forth in the pan untill it reached the right consistency. Didn't want it to scorch either.
I love Molasses, good molasses like cktate talked about. Never thought of trying it on saugage, will have to give that a try. sounds good. Cornbread or biscuts, you bet. One of the farm supply stores here carries a line of it, not sure where it is made. A lot more expensive now than when I was a kid. The stuff they carry in the grocery store isn't hardly worth carrying home, The watered down version. I think it is like Grits, you have to develope a taste for it.
When I was a kid you could have anything you wanted for breakfast as long as it was what Momma put on the table, There was caro syrup and Molasses both and some kind of Jelly, I kinda leaned toward the Molasses. We don't cook breakfasts like that anymore, just on special occasions.
SkyTramp;
Much obliged, DanG. Will be in touch.