Good News And Bad News On Sorghum
Wal-Mart doesn’t carry it. I asked, and was taken to an aisle. The guy pointed to the molasses. Er, no.
On my earlier post, Joubert commented:
I have to buy mine on the Net. I can’t remember how you use it but I use it as porridge and buy it here:
https://www.shop-southafricans.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=153
Sorghum is a grain. Joubert was raised in South Africa, and they eat the grain there. We feed the grain to livestock (and now, use it to make ethanol). Sorghum is also the syrup made from the cane, the same way molasses is made from sugar cane (the juice is pressed out, then slowly boiled down).
Sorghum is not molasses. Sorghum is made from sorghum cane. Molasses is made from sugar cane. Molassess is much darker and much more strongly flavored than sorghum. Not the same. Not even very similar. Sorghum has its own unique flavor, because it’s made from sorghum cane, not sugar cane.
People in Pennsylvania do make and eat sorghum. All I had to do was a little web research. There are even a few Pennsylvania brands, so if I keep looking, I may be able to find it somewhere around here. If I can’t, there are a couple of Pennsylvania food shops that sell it online.
But it is undeniably true that nobody here here, as in State College here, has a clue what sorghum is.
Jeffrey Quick:
That’s because it’s a college town and they’re all city clickers.
August 14, 2008, 4:52 pmIn South Africa I believe they also brew a native beer from sorghum (grain) …though I might be confusing it with millet.
ricki:
When I used to live in Illinois, you could pretty reliably find sorghum syrup at the small “orchard stores” (an apple or peach orchard would usually have a farm store associated with it that sold the produce plus other things). I’ve even seen it for sale at larger Farmer’s markets.
I THINK I’ve seen it in some of the larger grocery stores here in the South but I’ve never bought it…I guess I tend to like the stronger flavor of molasses, personally, and that’s what I tend to use.
I’m also happy to report that the Kroger’s 1/2 hour away from me has FINALLY started carrying Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is a British cane syrup product - it is like an extremely refined, very light molasses, more like honey, really, than molasses. But like sorghum, nothing quite tastes like Lyle’s (or works quite as well in recipes calling for it) and I had been missing having access to it.
Now if I could just get a decent grocery right in my town, without having to DRIVE to buy food somewhere other than the wal-mart (which is fine for some things but swaps brands out fast enough to make your head spin and randomly stops carrying products.)
August 15, 2008, 9:04 amPatrick Joubert Conlon:
Yes, beer is brewed out of sorghum grain in South Africa but the most common African beer is made from maize. It’s not really beer but it’s delicious.
August 15, 2008, 12:01 pm