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

[@DavidRFortney]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

Thank you

[@BarbaraMay-z9x]

Stripping leaves makes the syrup less bitter.

[@tommyblanchard4465]

Them kids growing up good 👍 😊

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

Way to fast!

[@Ne1canGarden]

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

[@paulabrown5685]

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

[@MarkWYoung-ky4uc]

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]

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

[@karenfleming1500]

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!!

[@jeffreyhilbourn209]

Thank y’all. Molasses is great with homemade biscuits

[@adventuresinmichiganwlisa9852]

Y'all enjoy the beautiful weather ❣️🫶❣️

[@rayclay2]

crazy cool great job team TG~!!

[@connieparker8896]

Interesting, I am so impressed

[@jeff1968y]

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.

[@lindalou1460]

So glad to see yall doing this -my grandpa used to grow it in Arkansas but died before i was born 83 years ago so i'd love to see it in my old age❤

[@duncand5148]

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]

Thank you!

[@brandynash1409]

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!

[@donaldwells2102]

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

[@threeriversforge1997]

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.

[@wandafaircloth6934]

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.

[@Sarah-zg5qs]

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

[@creative1877]

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

[@davidwelch3459]

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]

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 !

[@nellmanning8547]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

Thank you!

[@creativespaceslandscaping]

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! 🥰

[@karensparks10]

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

[@carolyncooper2535]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

Cool! I’ll check it out!

[@lelaqualls8041]

looks good would chickens eat the pressed stalks

[@MeMe-yr3or]

Thank y'all, for sharing. II was always interested in how sorghums grow and what it looks like and how you harvest it. I love sorghum syrup and I know you can make flour out of sorghum learning I had just found out about that, so I'm interested to see what you use it for and using the I don't know what part of the sorghum do you use for flour? But I would like to see how it works. And yeah I have hope in you that your seeds will take off, I believe the seeds are not damaged, not all of them, I've had seeds. I've saved from 2010 and horn seeds actually, and they I planted them and I had a good prop of corn, so yes, I have. I have faith? So we're fixing through some work out here to garden, and we thought they're very goodThank y'all, for sharing. II was always interested in how sorghums grow and what it looks like and how you harvest it. I love sorghum syrup and I know you can make flour out of sorghum learning I had just found out about that, so I'm interested to see what you use it for and using the I don't know what part of the sorghum do you use for flour? But I would like to see how it works. And yeah I have hope in you that your seeds will take off, I believe the seeds are not damaged, not all of them, I've had seeds. I've saved from 2010 and horn seeds actually, and they I planted them and I had a good crop of corn, so yes, I have. I have faith!😊😊

[@2003-2fitty]

I’m loving watching yalls channel! ❤Leslie

[@njo2649]

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

[@joshuawilliams8555]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

wow!

[@joshuawilliams8555]

I am located in South West Virginia

[@everettsartin7556]

Been making it several years hard work but satisfying job when done i strip mine gets rid of bugs spiders and afids and makes lots better sorghum

[@KathyRusho]

🍯

[@homesteadingpastor]

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

[@Prepping_mimi]

So excited to see y’all cook it up!

[@davidallen7617]

All hard working family

[@brendawoods554]

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

[@pmartin6759]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@paulabrown5685]

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.

[@janetforster2484]

Meagan you reminded me of my tobacco cropping days 😊

[@jeans3324]

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

[@karenfleming1500]

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

[@jerriefisher792]

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

[@lucindasutt7365]

On to video 2!

[@bartsexton1652]

Have y’all watched Danny on Deep South homestead when he did his sugar cane. Don’t know if it’s the same for yours , from what I remember he said if you strip it it makes it sweeter.. Have no i dear if it’s the same .

[@kennethvaughan8195]

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 !

[@alexd6399]

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]

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]

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

[@paccur1252]

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]

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

[@paccur1252]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

we love Titus

[@duncand5148]

Yes. I love him too

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

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

[@ashleywelborn9644]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

no they're not that hard

[@paccur1252]

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]

I hope so!

[@jacobhartsfield30]

Just stripped it and enjoy it when i done this as a kid I would take one of those small ones and chew on it while I was working it good

[@jenssuburbanhomestead759]

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

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

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]

Is it same as sugar cane. Or the black molasses

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

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

[@brandynash1409]

Did you have to spray for aphids?

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

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

[@brandynash1409]

@@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.

[@teakkabean]

Is this the same plant to get sorghum flour?

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

I would guess so i know that the seeds can be used to grind into flour

[@teakkabean]

@@TrueGritAppalachianWays we use sourghum in our sourdough. Nice flavor. But getting to be expensive. Will have to add it to my growing next year.

[@lorrilynnwilson6229]

What kind of knives are you using? They look wooden?

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

yep they're wooden and homemade just for that

[@davidallen7617]

Bitterness and dark sorghum really mess up a good copper pan hard to clean up never leave fodder or tops unless you get lazy

[@jeans3324]

Jean From Connecticut not June

[@alanwilliamson2259]

Looks like same type of structure as sugar cane

[@RUTH_BaTH_SHaL_YaHUaH]

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 ~

[@MeMe-yr3or]

Yeah, too bad about the garlic. My experience with garlic. I don't know when you planted them, but plant them in the fall, cover them with a good composted leaves, they need a lot of dense soil. I mean my friend. She plants garlic and she gets the good harvest every year, she plants them in a area where he gets water. It's almost like in a ditch of her garden, so she says she always I have a good harvest but because it's really dry and you guys probably didn't get a lot of water there, it's, you know, it's it's, it seemed like it just didn't get enough growth because it it's, it's lacking either some kind of nourishment or water. Also I don't know if you guys ever keep Water um containers here where I live in Chicago area community gardens, the the this. The city will provide water for us but that was when I was doing community garden and it worked out fine.I catch rainwater.I keep a barrel or buckets and things outside to catch the rainwater, and I use that to water the garden, and we're just kind of wondering if y'all do that too❤❤😊 Also, just a little tip. Try planting some onions 2 and see what and see if that will help. Um, make it in with your garlic.

[@noahsmith8988]

Back years ago just about all the poor people and sharecroppers grew sorghum cane it was always stripped my Daddyuse to help make syrup for people he would get paid he would come home with 2 or 3 gallon buckets of sorghum syrup to me its the best syrup made I can't find any pure syrup what they sell in the stores is not pure sorghum

[@teresawebster3498]

The leaves may add unwanted flavor and could be toxic.

[@TrueGritAppalachianWays]

Yep im sure they would

[@Ne1canGarden]

Sorghum syrup molasses is made with sugar cane

[@WalterBeard]

Feed your small sorghum to your cows

[@jerriefisher792]

Consider sugar cane.

[@lancejames9228]

nothing ventured nothing gained