Making Sorghum Syrup
Saturday I got to attend the Madison County making of sorghum syrup which I had heard about. I drove to Todd and Susie’s place and Susie drove to where the sorghum would be made not far from their house, stopping first at the Laurel Community Center where a large room was filled with donated goods, carefully sorted. We were offered a One World Kitchen meal of green beans, chicken salad, pork and beans and pulled pork, cooked up somewhere else and served by three very cheerful women. I promised to photograph them on Monday.
At the sorghum syrup making home of Krystal and Tony Costa there were already a number of young families cutting and stripping the sorghum and then running it through a press to squeeze out the juice. The press was turned by a large wooden carved pole that in the old days had been pulled around in a circle by a mule, but yesterday was pulled in a circle by a riding lawn mower while a woman with a large straw hat sat in the center feeding the sorghum into the press to have the juice squeezed out.
Later four little kids pushed the board around while other children fed the sorghum into the press. The juice that was collected was put into a large vat that had a fire burning below it fed by wood so that the juice boiled down until it became thick syrup. Every family was going to get a bottle. Krystal and Tony use some of the syrup for cooking during the year and give some to friends and trade some.
Toward evening the adults stood around and talked and the kids, their faces painted, raced around in made up activities squealing as they ran and having a marvelous time.
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When it got dark a number of men in the group got out instruments and played fiddle tunes while everyone got something to eat from the potluck spread out on two tables. The party was going to continue until midnight when the syrup boiled down and then would pick back up on Sunday morning when a second batch would be boiled down into syrup. Many of the families were camping out for the night so breakfast in the morning would be great fun.
It seemed to me that while this was neighbor helping neighbor, a Madison County way of life, it was even more a community celebration with the cutting, pressing and boiling of the syrup just an excuse to bring families together for a weekend of eating together and conversation and fun. For me it was great fun.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 