Civil War Sweetener - Sorghum

The blockade of southern ports, initiated by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861 causes many food shortages.   Among the scarce items was sugar.

Southerners were resourceful and began to use "sorghum" in place of cane sugar.  Sorghum was cheap and plentiful in the south, and often went by the name of “sorghum molasses”.  

Sorghum is a grain that grows tall like corn, and is used for sweetening and also as livestock feed. From a distance it looks like corn. 


However, you’ll find no ears and there is a reddish tinge to the leaves, stalk and ripe seed head.  Stalks stand up to 10 feet tall.

Sorghum holds a sweet juice extracted by crushing the cane. That sweet juice is then reduced until it runs slow as molasses, but boasts a deeper, more complex flavor. 

Sorghum  is known as “the camel of crops” because it doesn’t need much water and grows in soils other grains won’t.