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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

> >> We have a rogue sorghum plant that comes up in our garden
> >> every year. Has anyone ever grown it and made their own
> >> molasses?

Very little is better than Sorghum Molasses on fresh cornbread.

My uncle grew a small patch and made Molasses every year.  His rollers were
horizontal and powered by a belt off a tractor.  Early rollers were vertical
and powered by a horse or mule hooked to a large sweep on the top of the
rollers.

Sorghum was fed to the rollers which squeezed the juices into a pan.  The
spent stalks were then hog food.  I liked to take a joint of Sorghum and
chew on it for a sweet treat.

A slow fire under the pan boiled the water out over several hours.  It
required constant attention to prevent scorching and to skim off the foam.
The end result was a thick black sweet liquid that went great on Corn Bread
and Oatmeal.  My grandmother did a lot of cooking with Molasses.  Her
Molasses cookies are a memory that has never been duplicated.

For some unfathomable reason I was a favored grandson.  If we dropped in
unexpectedly and she did not have any cookies ready, she would drop
everything and make a batch.  If she knew we were coming there would e a
batch of fresh cookies waiting.

Don Bowen  KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html