Having a sweet time with sorghum

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

FOUNTAIN RUN October 13, 2008 11:50 am

— Elton Lee has been making sorghum for 70 years.
On Saturday, he and his family made more than 20 gallons of the dark brown, sticky syrup.
According to Elton, there is no secret to it.
“Just hard work,” he said with a smirk.
Sorghum or molasses is made from sugar cane. The sugar cane is fed through a mill that squeezes the liquid from the plant.
“I rigged that up with a four-speed Ford transmission, a Plymouth rear end and an International cog on top,” Elton said of the mill.
The mill is powered by a tractor. At one time, Elton used a mule to operate the mill.
“I got tired and the mule hit me in the head,” he said.
It took being kicked just once for Elton to switch from mule power to tractor power.
“With this way, you don’t have to stop and rest the mule,” Elton said.
The liquid is caught in a stainless steel tank and drains via a garden hose to a long stainless steel pan a few yards away.
The pan is heated by a wood fire and the light brown liquid, which has a hint of a greenish tint, is cooked in the pan for nearly three hours.
How do you know when it’s finished?
“You can tell by the way you push the paddle through,” Elton said.
The sorghum is ready to be put in jars when it becomes thick and turns dark brown.
Some sorghum producers only cook their sorghum in pans made of copper. Elton said he has tried copper, as well as galvanized steel, but now uses stainless steel. Of the three, stainless steel is the best, he said.
“That’s one man’s opinion,” he said, adding the stainless steel pans are easier to clean than the others.
The Lees, along with some good friends who offer to help every now and then, take turns skimming the foam off the sorghum as it cooks.
“We feed the skimmings to the hogs,” Elton said. “It’s the best worm medicine you can give a hog.”
Elton learned how to make sorghum from his father, and at age 90, he is now passing on the family tradition to his son, Mike, and grandson, Jerry.
Jerry grew up watching his grandfather and dad make sorghum.
“I’ve been here ever since I was big enough to cook,” he said.
He has twin boys of his own and plans to pass the tradition on to them.
“We’ll have molasses making on down through the years if they take it up,” Elton said of his great-grandsons.
It’s not uncommon for neighbors and friends to stop by and watch the production. When they do, Elton takes time to chat while Mike and Jerry take over the job of making the sorghum.
Charles Dismon, who lives up the road from the Lee family on Ky. 87, stopped to watch.
“You won’t see this in a few years,” Dismon said, adding there aren’t many people left who know how to make sorghum.
When the Lees began making sorghum a couple weeks ago, Dismon came down and documented the event in photos.
He admitted he doesn’t eat sorghum, but he eats things made with sorghum, such as the popcorn balls Elton makes every Christmas.
“They’re delicious, if you like popcorn balls,” Dismon said
Elton has also made sorghum taffy and his wife has made cakes and cookies with it.
Elton swears eating sorghum won’t make a person fat.
His daughter, Marietta, standing a few feet away, laughed at the remark. “It’s the biscuits and butter. That’s what’s fattening,” she said.
Marietta has helped her dad make sorghum in the past, but on Saturday she was able to watch.
“I’m the go-getter most of the time,” she said.
Elton sells his sorghum for $7 per quart.
“I’ve sold it that way for the last four years,” he said. “Everything went up, but I stayed the same.”
The Lee family anticipates making sorghum again this Saturday, Elton said.
“If we can get it stripped and Jack Frost don’t get us.”

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