Making Sorghum Molasses: An Appalachian Stir-Off

Growing Up with Traditions

When I was a child, in the Appalachia of my youth, it was still fairly common to share a big job of work with others in your community, and return the favor when they needed you. Working in the cornfield, getting a new ground ready, and killing a hog were some of the times this would happen. It was hard work, and people had to help each other, but it was often a good excuse to have a party.

But my favorite event of the year was always the stir-off. A stir-off is when you get together to harvest the cane that you’ve grown and cook it down into syrup, which can be called sorghum or molasses. The stir-off I went to was on Kingdom Come Creek. And the reason I went is because my brother had married Old Man Ison’s granddaughter, and it was on his farm.

Belonging in the Mountains

Our dad wasn’t from Letcher County, but rather a few counties over, so nobody recognized our last name, and we were treated a bit like foreigners.

Here’s a typical conversation that my siblings and I had often, from the POV of my eldest brother.

Old Man: Whose boy are you?

Mike: My dad is Bob Gover. We live over on Sand Lick.

(confused stare)

Old Man: Well, I don’t know no Govers. They was a Glover lived over in Knott County back in the sixties.

Mike: My dad’s from Pulaski County. I married Old Man Ison’s granddaughter—-Florene’s girl.

Old Man: Oh, yeah, My wife’s people come from Oscaloosa. Her mother was a Ison. (Smiling slightly, teasingly) You ort not to take up with that bunch. They’ll work ye to death.

Mike (smiling too): Yeah, Old Man Ison is gonna die workin, I’m pretty sure. Just pitch over one day while he’s shoveling hay in the barn.

A Magical Place Called Kingdom Come Creek

Now, Kingdom Come creek is deep in the heart of Appalachia in Eastern Kentucky. It’s part of the Cumberland Plateau, which has more species of plants and trees than anywhere outside of the rainforest. It’s a magical place. Mr. Ison’s farm was situated between two hunched-together mountains way back on Kingdom Come. You didn’t get to Kingdom Come on accident—you had to go their ON PURPOSE.

The road was not paved, and followed the creek. Sometimes, the road WAS the creek, depending upon how much it had rained. But August was usually dry, and we’d all show up early in the morning. It was usually right around when school was starting back. The day wouldn’t be too hot yet, and the men would be setting up the cooking pan and the juice extractor. Old Man Ison would hitch the old Belgian horse, Bo, to the sled, and set out for the sorghum field, just down the road and across the creek. My brother, his brother-in-law and a bunch of other men would walk along, and some of us kids would always hop on the sled to enjoy the entertainment of the bumpy ride through the creek to the field.

Harvesting the Cane

Once in the field, the men would shoo us off the cart and begin to cut down the cane. WHOMP would go their big knives and SWOOSH would go the cane, falling over onto the sled. Once it was full, we’d trot back behind, eager to get our first taste of the new cane.

The men would begin to strip the extra leaves off the cane stalks and feed the stalks through the juicer, collecting the juice into the big, flat pan where it was ready to boil down. Us kids would take out our pocket knives (because every mountain child had a pocket knife at that time, which we were even allowed to carry at school) and cut pieces of the cane, scraping out the sweet centers to chew and spit. It was so delicious and cool, and it had a GREEN taste, if you know what I mean.

“You young’uns don’t suck too much of that green juice! Hit’ll give you the bellyache!”

Cooking Down the Syrup

Once the pan had enough juice to start cooking down, the fire maker would start the fire that he’d be tending all day—-not too hot and not too cool. The skimmer would stand all day and skim off the foam and impurities as the juice began to boil. The men took turns.

Us kids would run off to play while we waited for the juice to boil down enough to taste it. The men were looking for the point where the bubbles looked like “sheep’s eyes” to tell it was ready.

We had the run of the hills—-climbing, skinning knees, catching crawdads, and cooling down from the August heat in the branch. At some point, way down in the afternoon, the women would bring out the dishes they had brought to share and we would stuff ourselves on the delicious food, always more exotic because it had been made by someone besides our mothers.

Mountain Potluck

There would be chicken and dumplings, white half-runners cooked with ham, cornbread, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, and one of those dishes with buttery crumbs on top and lots of cheese and probably a can of cream of mushroom soup. For dessert, what I remember most is the stack cakes, made with sorghum and dried apples and spices, layers stacked up high with the women outdoing each other to see who could have the MOST layers in their cake.

“I’m sure Ora’s cake has the most layers, even more than Faye’s”

“Well, she always was the best hand to make a cake.”

The Sweet Reward

As we finished eating, the light would start to fade, and folks would begin to wander over to the pan of sorghum, which by now would be smelling all caramelized and delicious. We’d all cut ourselves a fresh stick of sorghum and dip it. It’s important to let it cool or it can downright cook your tongue.

At the end of the evening, way after dark, the adults would all take the jars and bottles they had brought up to the pan, where a spigot would be opened to let the warm, thick, dark liquid flow into the bottles. We’d always take home several quarts, enough to last us a whole winter of stack cakes, gingerbread, sorghum pull candy, and of course, ‘lasses and butter on biscuits—which was everyone’s favorite.

Preserving Memories

Our sorghum jar always had pride of place on the kitchen shelf, right next to the jar of dried apples and the jar of moonshine. But I won’t tell about those now–those are stories for another day!

If you’d like to see a brief video I made about a more modern-day sorghum stir-off, you can find it below!