Is Anyone Familiar With Sorghum?

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Diane Lane, Sep 25, 2016.

  1. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Messages:
    4,572
    Likes Received:
    4,041
    I came across some sorghum recently, and purchased it. I found a recipe that sounds and looks delicious, but it calls for sorghum syrup, instead of regular sorghum, so I guess I'll have to keep looking. I don't know if I could somehow make syrup from this sorghum, or how difficult that process might be. I love the idea of making this cake, but I've never seen sorghum syrup in the stores. If anyone has suggestions or sorghum recipes, please share. Thanks in advance.
     
    #1
  2. Ina I. Wonder

    Ina I. Wonder Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2015
    Messages:
    3,499
    Likes Received:
    5,715
    @Diane Lane my father loved sorghum syrup, and we use to by it at the old feed store, as it was something that he used to mix in the animals feed as well.

    I think by the time you made your own syrup from the grain, you would loose your desire for the cake. I found it a stinky process.

    But I did look it up on Amazon, and here is what I found.

    image.jpeg
     
    #2
    Diane Lane likes this.
  3. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Messages:
    4,572
    Likes Received:
    4,041
    Thanks, @Ina I. Wonder, is it similar to molasses? Maybe I could just make the cake with molasses, if so, and find another recipe for the sorghum grain. I agree, the process would probably exhaust me, and I definitely don't want to stink up the house in the process :p:D:eek:;):confused:.

    It might be worth it to buy a jug of it when I get some cash, to try out this recipe using the original ingredient, but any $$ I get right now is going to bills and hopefully at some point, a newer computer.
     
    #3
    Ina I. Wonder likes this.
  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    14,880
    Likes Received:
    27,865
    @Diane Lane , unless you bought the grain sorghum, I think that what you have IS sorghum syrup. Sorghum is delicious ! ! It is not as strong as molasses, and yet it is stronger and more flavorful than just plain pancake syrup. The recipe that calls for sorghum syrup is for what you have bought.
    I first had sorghum when I lived in Missouri. We had neighbors who had an old farm, and that was where I got my fresh cow's milk from, and they gave me some sorghum to try.
    I had never even heard of it, and they explained that it is made from a grain, and then squeezed out, somewhat like raw sugar cane is processed.
    My favorite way to use it is over top of a bowl of fresh plain yogurt. It is much healthier than the sugary stuff you get at the store, and I love the combination of the two flavors.
    You would also be able to substitute molasses for the recipe that called for sorghum, but the molasses does have a stronger flavor.

    Did your father use the grain sorghum to feed his livestock, @Ina I. Wonder , or do you mean that he gave them the processed sorghum syrup as a supplement ?
    We used to be able to get blackstrap molasses pretty cheap, and I bought that by the five gallon bucket, and added it in with the grain for the horses, and the milk goat, along with kelp granules, which I could also buy pretty cheap for a 20 lb bag.
    Blackstrap molasses has lots of good iron and B vitamins in it; but it is definitely a strong taste, and one you have to get used to. I did make gingerbread with blackstrap molasses though, and that was about as healthy of a dessert as any, I think.
    The sorghum at the farmer market is more like $8-9 per quart; so still expensive, but not as much as the ones you found on Amazon. I think Kroger carries it, too.
     
    #4
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2016
    Ike Willis likes this.
  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,325
    Likes Received:
    42,614
    When I was a kid, we used Karo pancake syrup sometimes and I liked it, although not as much as the maple syrup that came from our own trees. A few months ago, I tried some Karo pancake syrup, and it was absolutely disgusting.
    karo.jpg
     
    #5
    Diane Lane likes this.
  6. Ina I. Wonder

    Ina I. Wonder Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2015
    Messages:
    3,499
    Likes Received:
    5,715
    @Yvonne Smith we use to grow the grain for stock feed, and the rest we sold to the feed store to process into the syrup. It was no harder to grow than sugar cane or corn. But sometimes for extra nutritional value, my father would mix it into the other grains such as corn as quick boost for sickly animals.

    @Diane Lane many people don't realize that we have a lot of dairy farms around this part of Texas. I would call a couple and ask them what feed stores they use that you might acquire some sorghum syrup. I bet it wouldn't be as costly, because feed store sell it as an additive to farm animal feed.
     
    #6
    Diane Lane likes this.
  7. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2015
    Messages:
    19,089
    Likes Received:
    18,917
    I've heard of it but never tried it. I've never tried karo syrup either. Don't think I've had molasses either.

    I have tried maple syrup but since I'm not fond of pancakes, I've only eaten it a couple times. Guess I'm not a syrupy type.
     
    #7
  8. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2016
    Messages:
    9,297
    Likes Received:
    10,619
    Sorghum was extensively grown on the property we bought in Missouri, though years before. In a shed across the road, there was a "bathtub" built of firebrick blocks, in which they cooked the stuff, I presume to get a syrupy, sweet kind of stuff I imagined was like Molasses. The actual history, though, was obscure, as the man who bought the already old farmhouse we got, had died in the late 1990s, having lived there since 1951. He had come from Nebraska, with a wife and several kids, and was described to us by a neighbor's son as having had a "strange religion", but was good, hardworking and honest. In "them parts" any non-Baptist was considered strange, or different, I guess. No local ever accosted me about my beliefs, which I always kerpt to myself, though they frequently invited me to their church.

    Interestingly, I was hired by the local school district to teach high school Math in 2002-'03, with no outward consideration being expressed by the near-100% Baptist faculty there, which included the Principal, who hired me. We needed the dough, as I had "dropped out" of the "system" left behind bny the departing Bill Clinton, 5 years before becoming Social Security eligible. Off-thread, kinda........
    Frank
     
    #8
  9. K E Gordon

    K E Gordon Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2016
    Messages:
    1,440
    Likes Received:
    1,390
    Yeah, I think sorghum is a molasses product if I am not mistaken, as the others have said, Maybe it is a byproduct of processing the molasses. I think places like Crackerbarrel have some sorghum sundae's. I don't se why you shouldn't be able to use it in a recipe in place of molasses I think it wouuld work just as well. Maybe you should google it though just t be certain! It might work well!
     
    #9
    Frank Sanoica likes this.
  10. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2016
    Messages:
    9,297
    Likes Received:
    10,619
    @K E Gordon
    Molasses was a favored ingredient by my Mother in a variety of cakes and cookies. She said it had a lot of iron! OTOH, she also knew carrots, being orange, were good for our eyes, even calling out carotene. How she knew, escapes me still. Very knowledgeable for an Immigrant.

    Later in life, I wondered about Bock Beer, remembering her story that the doctor recommended she drink a glass of Bock Beer daily, when she was pregnant with me! I enjoyed Bock, when it was available once a year in the Chicago area, and later learned German Bock Beer was always available.

    It's dark brown in color, has a "nutty" flavor, so, I thought, is Molasses. I tried adding a pint to my home brewed beer. Turned out great! Come to think of it, I haven't brewed any in about a year or so. Molasses is pretty expensive. When we lived in Missouri, we shopped at an Amish store in Sedalia which had Molasses by the gallon, under $10! Wish I still had some!
    Frank
     
    #10
    Ina I. Wonder and Yvonne Smith like this.
  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    14,880
    Likes Received:
    27,865
    Although sorghum and molasses are very similar in appearance and even in taste, they come from different sources, @K E Gordon . Sorghum is actually a grain, so it is a grass actually, and the grain is used as a cereal type of food for both people and animals, from what i have read about it.
    The stalks have the sweet juice, and that is crushed and boiled into the sorghum syrup, in a very similar way that sugar cane is made into sugar and molasses is the unprocessed byproduct of sugar cane.
    Either one can probably be used interchangeably, but I think that molasses has a stronger flavor.
    I really like both of them a whole lot !
    As @Frank Sanoica mentioned, molasses has a lot of iron, especially the blackstrap molasses, plus it has a lot of other vitamins and minerals , magnesium being one of the other ones that comes to mind right away.
    I don't often have pancakes or any other food that uses syrup on it; but occasionally, we have corn bread, and I always have a bit of that hot with butter and molasses or sorghum on it. (Don't tell @Sheldon Scott or he will scold me for ruining good corn bread....)
    I also like it as a topping on plain greek yogurt; but I don't have that often either. It is a better choice than ice cream when I am craving a sweet treat, though.
     
    #11
    Frank Sanoica and K E Gordon like this.
  12. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Messages:
    4,572
    Likes Received:
    4,041
    The sorghum I have is actually pearl sorghum, the grain, not a liquid syrup. I haven't seen sorghum syrup sold at Kroger, but that doesn't mean it's not sold there. I had the hardest time finding molasses. They seem to have the syrups and honeys in odd places, and I have spoken to others who've had the same issue locating the products on the shelf. I have a feed store somewhat nearby, so when I'm ready to try making something with the sorghum syrup, I'll probably check there first, or perhaps order it online. I'll have to see what i can find as far as recipes for pearl sorghum. I'd heard of sorghum molasses over the years, but the only pearl product I was familiar with was pearl barley.
     
    #12
    Yvonne Smith likes this.
  13. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,325
    Likes Received:
    42,614
    If I wanted it, I'd buy it on Amazon.com as they offers several choices.
     
    #13
  14. Ike Willis

    Ike Willis Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2015
    Messages:
    2,460
    Likes Received:
    6,012
    Used it on flapjacks.
     
    #14
    Frank Sanoica likes this.
  15. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Messages:
    4,572
    Likes Received:
    4,041
    I looked on the package when I was downstairs yesterday, and it sounds as if the sorghum pearls are cooked the same way as rice, and are also used in pretty much the same way, alone, with veggies and/or meat, or to thicken soup, as barley is used. I'm thinking it would be nice to try making as a hot cereal, too. I wouldn't mind buying a small container or sorghum syrup to try, but I don't really want to invest in a large one, in case I don't like it. Maple is my favorite syrup, and that's what we used growing up. We'd use it on our pancakes/waffles/french toast, and also in cooking. Maple fudge is my absolute favorite.
     
    #15
    Frank Sanoica likes this.

Share This Page