Sorghum is a star that needs to make a comeback. Contrary to popular belief, sorghum is not the same thing as molasses, which is a by-product of the sugar industry. Sorghum is a grass, and sweet sorghum cane syrup is the traditional biscuit sweetener in the South. It’s packed with nutrients—1 tablespoon contains 30 mg of calcium, as well as iron, zinc, and magnesium.
Yet it has fallen out of mainstream eating. A century ago, the United States produced 10 million gallons of sorghum a year, but now less than a million gallons are produced each year. At Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill in Tennessee, Mark and Sherry Guenther grow the cane, operate the mill, and spread the word about the health benefits of their syrup. They do demonstrations using horses for milling, but they have a modern milling operation as well. He says he eats sorghum on everything, except he doesn’t put it in his coffee.
It’s good alone on biscuits, so I decided to make sorghum butter. I spread it on biscuits or, like Mark Guenther, just about anything.
1 stick salted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons sorghum syrup
Whip the butter using an electric mixer until it’s light and soft. Reduce the speed and drizzle in the sorghum. Put the butter into a container and refrigerate. Keep airtight, and it will keep as long as regular butter.