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According to the National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association, sweet sorghum is not used to make molasses. Molasses is made from sugarcane or sugar beet. Sweet sorghum is often/usually served in a syrup that looks and tastes similar to molasses but they are not the same. Liblamb 06:35, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
--- Okay. Here's what I found. One of the sources accessed after a web search identified sorghum molasses as being a mixture of sorghum cane syrup and sugar cane molasses. But no recipes for or descriptions of sorghum molasses making include the addition of sugar cane molasses.
Another, more plausible explanation is this one at http://food.oregonstate.edu/sugar/molasses.html :
Molasses of old in the US was produced from sorghum [sweet sorghum: Gramineae Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] [emphasis added]. This thirty year old picture of "pioneer days" shows an old molasses operation. When I attended the production of molasses at this open-house, the producers went out to the field and brought in the sorghum stalks. These were placed in a grinder/press and the juices exuded. The grinder/press were simply two round wooden cylinder blocks that were turned by a mule walking on the exterior of the circle. The exuded juice ran down a wooden trough into a series of brick vats. Under the vats was a wooden fire. The heat evaporated the water from the sap. The concentration of sugars, acids, and minerals was depenedent upon the degree of evaporation.
Currently, molasses are also frequently a by-product of sugar cane production [emphasis added]. Again, the quality and characteristics is dependent upon the concentration and degree of processing. There is little commercial production of sweet sorghum for molasses. Sorghum crops are primarily used [in the] "farm" production of syrup [sic].
I say this explanation is more plausible simply because in the early days of the republic, molasses would have been a relatively expensive/scarce commodity, its areas of growth being limited to the South. Sorghum, however, could be grown far more widely. I think "sorghum syrup" and "sorghum molasses" may be essentially the same thing -- or, certainly, the same ingredients, with the latter being, perhaps, more concentrated/cooked longer than the former. If you follow some of the links, there are small farms and specialty operations today still producing "sorghum molasses" -- even in Tennessee and Kentucky -- for sale. deeceevoice 10:43, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Your edit, which I reverted, caused the text to say, rather curiously, that making sorghum was labor-intensive, rather than the making of molasses from sweet sorghum. In the original version, that phrase "molasses from sweet sorghum" and then the parenthetical "as from sugar cane," I think, makes a clear distinction between the two kinds of molasses -- enough so that there is no misunderstanding them to be identical products. And there seem to be cerainly enough current references to lead me to believe the term "sorghum molasses" is known and used fairly widely, even though you and I may not have been familiar with it prior to reading this piece. deeceevoice 10:48, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Is sorghum syrup made from the stalks or the grain? I always assumed it was made from the grain but have just been told it's made from the stalks. This should be added to the article. Badagnani 18:59, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
Is there enough to be said here that is distinctive and unique, or would this article be better merged with the main Sorghum article? FlagSteward 21:46, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Sweet sorghum was brought by African slaves? What, in their hand-luggage? Ridiculous! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.161.225.253 ( talk) 08:35, 12 April 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the nice article. Until a few years ago here in NW Ohio I was able to buy locally produced sorghum syrup, but if it shows up here at all now it usually comes up from southern Ohio. In Ye Olden Times I recall that it was typically labelled "sorghum molasses" - unscientifically, I'm sure - and I've been told that it was made from the stalks of "broom corn". Farmers would grow some for personal use or local sales. Just an old-timer's observations on an enjoyable sweetener. 98.30.29.58 ( talk) 17:19, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
MAKING SYRUP AND SUGAR FROM SORGHUM. From the Brisbane Courier from June 1st, 1867. This is sort of interesting. Are there other ways to make sugar from (sweet) sorghum? Komitsuki ( talk) 12:54, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
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