A hundred years ago if you did not have a few jugs of molasses you were in for a sweetless winter. Sorghum molasses brought the main sweet, sugary taste to cooking. When the crop did not turn out, the Ozark people were in for bitter gooseberry pie or had to be content with just butter on biscuits and cornbread. Sugar was an expensive and difficult to get luxury, and finding a bee tree too unreliable. Farmers could be more self-sufficient with something they grew and made themselves, like the nearly always dependable sorghum cane crop.
However, not everyone that endeavored to make molasses was satisfied. The molasses might be green from not enough cooking, or it might be cooked too fast. It could be murky from dirty stalks or from improperly strained juice, or black from being scorched. It might be bitter from the cane being frosted on or from improper handling of the harvesting. Or a poor growing season could produce an inferior crop. So it was very important to know what to do while growing, harvesting and cooking the sorghum cane. The making of good molasses was a skill not every one had. Those who made it well were sought after.
Very few people had their own mills even years ago, usually one in a neighborhood. As sugar became more available, the number of mills became more scarce as time went on until now very few in the Ozarks are in production.
I will tell you a story told by grandma long ago she was going to make a cake, molasses was the only sweetening we had she explained.
They had their winters supply in the smoke house stored in a wooden barrel.
She sent aunt fleta with a pan to get molasses . Fleta did not shove the plug in the bung hole back in far enough and during a period of time before anyone went back into the smoke house all of the molasses ran out on the flood.
Grandma said we didn't have any sweetening that year.
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3 comments:
This is an interesting post. Poor aunt Fleta must have felt so bad.
My grandma was born in 1891 and had developed a taste for black strap molasses. I can still remember her sitting at the table with a puddle of black goo in the bottom of a saucer and dipping torn pieces of stale bread into into it and popping it into her mouth. She certainly enjoyed it, and let me try it too, but it seemed quite strong to me. And besides I had just learned about the bubble-gum machine at the little store down the road and much preferred a lovely candy coated piece of gum.
I'll bet Fleta was sad over that mistake.
Here's a spice cookie recipe I like a lot, uses molasses for sweetener.
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup molasses
* 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons corn oil
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
1. Melt butter or margarine over low heat until the butter turns light brown. Add molasses, brown sugar and oil, stirring to melt the sugar. Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool for 5 minutes.
2. Add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and baking soda. Mix well. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat until just blended.
3. Put the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap; flatten it into a disk and wrap it up. Let dough rest at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours before rolling.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly grease cookie sheets.
5. Divide dough in half and rewrap the unused portion. Roll out the dough on a floured surface as thin as possible, less than 1/16 inch. Cut out cookies with a small 2-inch cutter and place them about 1/4 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake one sheet at a time for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies are crisp and just beginning to brown on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Mom and Aunt Winnie were always telling farm stories - funny, Mom didn't mention this one - teehee
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