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Title: Betty's Trip to 3rd Annual Sorghum Festival, Richmond, KY--NO RECIPE-- View count: 969 Rating: 4.6938777 (49 ratings) Description: In this video, Betty and her husband, Rick, visit the 3rd Annual Sorghum Festival at the Madison County Fairgrounds in Richmond, KY. Information about sorghum: Sweet sorghum has been widely cultivated in the U.S. since the 1850s for use in sweeteners, primarily in the form of sorghum syrup. By the early 1900s, the U.S. produced 20 million gallons of sweet sorghum syrup annually. Making syrup from sorghum (as from sugar cane) is heavily labor intensive. Following World War II, with the declining availability of farm labor, sorghum syrup production fell drastically. Currently, less than 1 million gallons are produced annually in the U.S. Most sorghum grown for syrup production is grown in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Sorghum syrup and hot biscuits are a traditional breakfast in southern Appalachia. Brian Ayres, an expert on Southern United States cuisine, states that it is impossible to drink more than a few tablespoons of sorghum molasses without respite. In the U.S. since the 1950s, sorghum has been raised primarily for forage and silage, with sorghum cultivation for cattle feed concentrated in the Great Plains (Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska are the leading producers), where insufficient rainfall and high temperature make corn production unprofitable. Sweet sorghum syrup is called "molasses" or "sorghum molasses" in some regions of the U.S., but the term molasses more properly refers to a different sweet syrup, made as a byproduct of the sugarcane or sugar beet production. Molasses is a byproduct of the processing of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar. The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet, the amount of sugar extracted, and the method of extraction. Sweet sorghum syrup is known in some parts of the United States as molasses, though it is not true molasses. Sulphured molasses is made from young sugar cane. Sulphur dioxide, which acts as a preservative, is added during the sugar extraction process. Unsulphured molasses is made from mature sugar cane, which does not require treatment with sulphur. There are three grades of molasses: mild, or first molasses; dark, or second molasses; and blackstrap. These grades may be sulphured or unsulphured. To make molasses, the sugar cane plant is harvested and stripped of its leaves. Its juice is extracted from the canes, usually by crushing or mashing; it can also be removed by cutting. The juice is boiled to concentrate it, which promotes the crystallization of the sugar. The result of this first boiling and removal of the sugar crystals is first molasses, which has the highest sugar content because comparatively little sugar has been extracted from the source. Second molasses is created from a second boiling and sugar extraction, and has a slight bitter tinge to its taste. The third boiling of the sugar syrup makes blackstrap molasses. The majority of sucrose from the original juice has been crystallized, but blackstrap molasses is still mostly sugar by calories. However, unlike refined sugars, it contains significant amounts of vitamins and minerals. Blackstrap molasses is a source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron; one tablespoon provides up to 20% of the daily value of each of those nutrients. Blackstrap, often sold as a health supplement, is also used in the manufacture of cattle feed and for other industrial uses. (Information obtained from Wikipedia.) Tags: bettyskitchen, betty's, kitchen, betty, sorghum, festival, fair, fairgrounds, madison, county, extension, department, richmond, kentucky, ky, harvest, harvester, mill, molasses, antique, tractor, syrup, sweet, sugar, cane, field, trip, home, family, old, time, fashion, fashioned, authentic, stalk, beet, refine, hand, made, style, homestyle, southen, cooking, baking, sweetener, farmer, market, history, making, Author: bettyskitchen |
