Cutting and Stripping Sorghum Canes | From Field to Jar | Part 1 of 3

Cutting and Stripping Sorghum Canes | From Field to Jar | Part 1 of 3 | October 2023

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8 ай бұрын

This is the first year we have ever grown sorghum here on the farm, we are so excited to hold up this old fashioned appalachian tradition. Sorghum molasses is an art that we hope to carry on. Y’all be sure to follow along with this 3 part adventure!
Check out the story about our molasses equipment! ⬇️
• Saving an Appalachian ...
Find Part 2 here ⬇️
• Pressing Sorghum Cane ...
Find Part 3 here ⬇️
• Sorghum Syrup | From F...
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Пікірлер: 81

@karenfleming1500 24 күн бұрын

I so enjoy this I’m 66 years old I remember my Dad taking us when I was a child to see the mule going around to get the juice!!! Sweet memories of being young it always makes me think of Gingerbread!!

@DavidRFortney 8 ай бұрын

You must be great parents cuz your kids seem like good good kids

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

Thank you

@jeans3324 Ай бұрын

I have to give you kids credit you a workers, not afraid to get your hands dirty since June from Connecticut❤

@davidwelch3459 3 ай бұрын

I’m 71 now when I was a kid my dad would take molasses and pour on a plate and eat with homemade rolls and longhorn cheese that was a dessert for him. We have pies all over the house and Thanksgiving my father eat molasses I guess there’s something he grew up on it was delicious.

@kennethvaughan8195 Ай бұрын

Set in his ways I guess. My dad like so many during times way back. He use to tell me they didn’t have a lot of meat and if so it was hog. But the staple of his diet was pinto beans and cornbread. As time went on I guess I was in my 20’s or so we could have ribeye steaks, baked taters… what I thought to be a meal fit for a king and so many times I seen him go and get pinto beans out of the refrigerator and eat those instead. It upset me to no end because I thought he felt like it was not enough but no, that’s just what the man wanted. We would just kind of laugh and shake our heads !

@jerriefisher792 Ай бұрын

Well, as we say in Texas, "Chop, chop!"

@MarkWYoung-ky4uc 8 ай бұрын

Y'all did great. I've never planted any cane must less made molasses. Daddy said they used to plant it years ago up at Rosebud. He had a great uncle that had a cane mill. I heard Meagan say she had never primed tobacco before. It's hard to believe there are whole generations in Stokes County today that have never worked in tobacco. 40 years ago, it was everywhere and has all but disappeared from here.

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

yep it blows my mind nowadays the number of people here that haven't worked in tobacco

@hambone8847 8 ай бұрын

You strip the leaves because of the chlorophyll you will squeeze a lot more of it out of the green leaves and then you will have a lot more of it to dip off your syrup as it is cooking and the the chlorophyll has a bitter taste

@creative1877 8 ай бұрын

I never thought I'd see a "stripping" video on such a wholesome family channel, lol. Seriously though, it was a very informative video. The joy y'all have in so many of the videos is quite infectious. Anyone watching these videos will find themselves smiling because y'all are smiling. I especially like the video where Andy is describing all the tools and equipment he got from a gentleman relating to the sourghum. Thank you for another great video. Trust in God and be blessed

@duncand5148 7 ай бұрын

Hey Andy and Meagan. You guys are off to a good start for sure. I grow about a quarter acre of Rox Orange syrup sorghum every year. Not to squeeze, but for fodder for my goats and pigs. Definitely would be a treat and nutritious for cows too. Good luck with making your syrup. A little trial and error and a little tweaking here and there, you’ll do just fine. That’s how any and everybody masters any skill. Just be patient and stick with it. Having the equipment alone is the best possible start you could ever have. Y’all are definitely well ahead in the game. Love y’all!

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 7 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@wandafaircloth6934 8 ай бұрын

We have a sorghum festival just down the road from me and it was this past weekend. Excited to see the rest of the process.

@donaldwells2102 8 ай бұрын

Enjoyed, and looking forward to the next steps in syrup making ❤🙏🙂.

@karenfleming1500 24 күн бұрын

Also my Mom would make old fashioned apple stack cakes 12 stacks made with dried apples

@jeff1968y 8 ай бұрын

Hello glad to see your getting that mill off the trailer looking forward to seeing your results, those small stalks are good for cleaning the mill and they do add up i looked at as two three small's equals 1 large just run them tru by the hand full. Cooking temp at done stage is the hard part 230,224,225 220 i've seen video's that say pull off the heat at all those temps??? From the batches i've done the higher the temp the thicker end product will be So i guess its what your looking for thin like pancake syrup or thick like molasses.

@paulabrown5685 8 ай бұрын

One more comment. We love to sweeten plain Greek yogurt with sorghum syrup. It is delicious.

@threeriversforge1997 8 ай бұрын

Good stuff from good folks. Can't ask for much better than that! I was just thinking about how you had that molasses press the other day when I made up a fresh batch of Switchel for the week and realized I was almost out of molasses. I tried researching on the making of the stuff, but it got fairly confusing since there's so many ways about it and the number of regional variations will boggle your mind! The upside, though, is that you've got more than enough on the trailer to make yourself a couple quarts to experiment with. And they're right about stripping the leaves off. The leaves are full of chlorophyl, not the sugary goodness you're aiming for. Leaving the leaves on would just gum up your works and add something of a bitter taste to the finished product.

@brandynash1409 6 ай бұрын

We have someone local who grows and presses sorghum. He is older and it is the same land and machine his grandfather used. He said if I wanted to grow my own he would press and cook it for me like they used to do for the community when he was a kid. He remembers bundles piled up in sections. He said it’s the same price it always has been... For every 5 gallons of finished product, they get 1 gallon. He gave me all his growing wisdom. I’m excited to try next year!

@rayclay2 8 ай бұрын

crazy cool great job team TG~!!

@kennethvaughan8195 Ай бұрын

I’ve been going back and watching videos from before I found yalls channel and this one was the latest. It’s a couple of things that kept cracking me up. The way Andy kept saying. He didn’t know what he was doing. This is not a how to video. But I guess really you have too. Sure as the world, somebody would have complained they planted a 100 acres and it all went to waste because of you ! Lol. The complainer’s and whiners. Lol. The other was the way Megan pronounced sorghum, which may be the right way , I don’t know how the right way is. My dad had his own vocabulary. Way to spell it the way he pronounced would be like saw gum. Lol RIP dad. Smartest uneducated man I’ve ever known. But I think there must be a gazillion ways for people to pronounce it. Anyway, growing up I had a lot of experience growing sorghum but I can’t tell you anything about syrup. Dad grew his for feeding his cattle. And they loved it. He had a 1 row binder. I must of stacked millions of bundles of it. The thing I wanted to say though is I know y’all use everything you can and those stalks the cows will love them. Can’t say it’s great for cows nutrition wise but dads cows always looked good ! That row binder is sitting here in the pasture. I want so bad to see it doing it’s job once again !

@nellmanning8547 8 ай бұрын

I love the interesting things you video, keep them coming !

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@lucindasutt7365 2 ай бұрын

On to video 2!

@creativespaceslandscaping 8 ай бұрын

Like my Mom always said, "You don't know until you try" and that's awesome y'all are trying something new. And a great way to learn an old tradition that's new for you too. Down here in South Florida we plant sugarcane which is basically the same process. Everyone does it a little different, but essentially you take all the leaves off so they don't get gummed up and easier to pass the cane through the juicer machine plus all the sugarcane juice is in the stalk anyhow. Another reason we take the leaves off is because they tend to hold dirt and easier to clean the stalks before juicing. No one likes a gritty juice, lol. Not sure about the sorghum but we can feed the fresh sugarcane leaves to life stock, they love it. Looking forward to seeing your sorghum journey & thanks for bringing us along! 🥰

@jeffreyhilbourn209 5 ай бұрын

Thank y’all. Molasses is great with homemade biscuits

@Sarah-zg5qs 8 ай бұрын

Meagan you can make syrup from corn cobs too . Something to think about for next year

@2003-2fitty 5 ай бұрын

I’m loving watching yalls channel! ❤Leslie

@tommyblanchard4465 7 ай бұрын

Them kids growing up good 👍 😊

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 7 ай бұрын

Way to fast!

@user-jo9ux7bc5y 7 ай бұрын

Stripping leaves makes the syrup less bitter.

@karensparks10 8 ай бұрын

A neighbor tried making sorghum one year but didn't boil it long enough. It had a slightly green color to it. It won't keep like that. My mother-in-law re-boiled her jar until it was really dark and it kept great. I look forward to your videos you're always up to something. Your kids are hard workers too.❤ NE KY

@paulabrown5685 8 ай бұрын

Glad you all are trying this. We grew Hopi Blue corn to use for meal and grits. We decided to use an antique shelter and also an antique grinder. It made me smile from ear to ear to actually use those antique tools and they worked great! Hope you have fun with this even though it may be hard work.

@KathyRusho 6 күн бұрын

🍯

@joshuawilliams8555 Ай бұрын

We planted 4 acres this year and hopefully make around 200 gallons of soghum

@TrueGritAppalachianWays Ай бұрын

wow!

@joshuawilliams8555 Ай бұрын

I am located in South West Virginia

@homesteadingpastor 7 ай бұрын

Great job guys. As always a joint effort as a family. Can’t wait to see how it turns out for you guys. 👍🏻👍🏻😊😊

@brendawoods554 8 ай бұрын

This is interesting, I've never seen this process done before, looking forward to the results.

@njo2649 8 ай бұрын

Looking forward to the next video. Thanks for posting this one

@janetforster2484 3 ай бұрын

Meagan you reminded me of my tobacco cropping days 😊

@ttandme69 7 ай бұрын

From South Louisiana here…and my great grandfather had a sugar cane plantation when I was growing up. I used to love to go out in the fields with him, bring home a stalk of sugar cane and then strip it, cut into bite size pieces, and relish in the taste of the fresh sugar. The only part I disliked was the remnants that were left behind…which is then turned into shaving for the horse stalls…it sucked when a piece got stuck between your teeth while you were chewing on the cane…oh, what a great memory!

@Prepping_mimi 8 ай бұрын

So excited to see y’all cook it up!

@paccur1252 8 ай бұрын

Titus... beautiful Christian man... does videos..made sorghum jam... yesterday l think..

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

we love Titus

@duncand5148 7 ай бұрын

Yes. I love him too

@carolyncooper2535 8 ай бұрын

Holly at Muddy Pond takes the tassels off of the cane and makes wreathes. Megan you may want to try it!

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

Cool! I’ll check it out!

@lelaqualls8041 3 ай бұрын

looks good would chickens eat the pressed stalks

@alexd6399 8 ай бұрын

Have you guys seen how Deep South homestead grow theirs? Danny arranges them in the shape of a wheel, they're even more densely planted than yours, but the wheel shape prevents them from being blown over.

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

so they grow sugar cane which is a little different than sorghum but yep we've watched them do theirs several times, the process of harvesting and cooking is exactly the same

@brandynash1409 6 ай бұрын

You don’t plant sorghum cane, you have to plant the seed after frost is over.

@RUTH_BaTH_SHaL_YaHUaH 8 ай бұрын

It all has'ta start suw'whares 🙂 .. Ya'll ar giv'n it a try and that's what counts .. Bute'aful Fam'ly be'n a Fam'ly, All Ta'gethur.. Meagan, wud Yu mind do'n Us Country Gals a video on how Yu make Yer Can'n Mats ?? .. I'd shur'nuff pre'sheate it .. I got all sorts'of purdy materials and I'm all'ways Jar'n Up tha hound outta sump'n.. I need ta make Me a few of those .. Ya'll hav'a well nite and Thank'Yu Kindly fer share'n.. Shalum from Hill'Top Hollar ~

@alanwilliamson2259 5 күн бұрын

Looks like same type of structure as sugar cane

@paccur1252 8 ай бұрын

I have the bell on.. but l am not seeing it come up straight away like others.. l am seeing it while doing other stuff.. hopefully they sort it.. l have pressed the bell again for all notifications.. so hopefully its not 20 hours later

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

I hope so!

@ashleywelborn9644 8 күн бұрын

Question.... will the ends left in the fields not cut the Tractor Tires when you go back to work the ground again

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 күн бұрын

no they're not that hard

@paccur1252 8 ай бұрын

Is it like sugar cane?? It looks very similar because they remove the keaves, they call that trash, but l mulch it now, and now in autumn do bundle like hay bales.. and sell... some still put in back into the soil..

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

Its very similar but this is an annual planted by seed, sugar cane is planted by cutting sections of the stalk, sugar cane doesn't grow in our climate

@pa.fishpreacher6166 8 ай бұрын

Will you toss the leaves on the compost pile? Good Nitrogen source, will get it cooking

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 8 ай бұрын

We are going to let them be organic matter to turn back into the soil on that field, it needs some love

@jeans3324 Ай бұрын

Jean From Connecticut not June

@jenssuburbanhomestead759 3 ай бұрын

Did you grow this from seed? Where did you aquire it?

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 3 ай бұрын

Yes we did, we got our seeds from Justro at metcalf mills, you can find him on KZbin at Appalachias Metcalf Mills I believe he has more seeds to sell if you are looking ☺️

@jeffreyhilbourn209 5 ай бұрын

Is it same as sugar cane. Or the black molasses

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 5 ай бұрын

So technically what we made is sorghum syrup which is similar but not the same thing

@brandynash1409 6 ай бұрын

Did you have to spray for aphids?

@TrueGritAppalachianWays 6 ай бұрын

We didn’t this year, they can be a problem here, but depends on the year

@brandynash1409 6 ай бұрын

@@TrueGritAppalachianWays thank you for the reply! A local here presses and cooks. He told me it was impossible to grow cane without spraying for aphids and gave me the name of the only thing that works. I’m hopeful I can at least try it. I don’t like spraying my food. I’d rather not have the sorghum syrup if it’s poison.