Muddy Pond Sorghum Syrup | Tennessee Crossroads | Episode 2207.3

made in the USA that's a label that brings pride to a lot of people in this country but we like to take it a little step further things made in Tennessee like over in Overton County where Theresa Bush met a family that's kept a Tennessee tradition growing and cooking at muddy pond if somebody were to create a club for professional sorghum syrup makers the look then John Gunther would not only be in it he'd probably be the president 43 years in John and his wife Emma have been cooking up the sweet stuff since moving to muddy pond back in 1965 three of their sons and their wives helped run the operation and every now and then some of their grandchildren pitch in one seed that makes one plant then we got a planner that we planned our wedding comes up in the Rose then it starts growing just to nettle leaves pretty soon it makes more leaves this grows up it just keeps on forming the leaves long it takes sorghum cane about four months to mature after that the stalks are cut stripped and then sent through pressing machines John's usually the one you'll see doing that the green juice travels downhill to a twenty two by eight foot evaporator pan inside the mill where it's boiled and that's where John's sun's coming in they are the cooks mark is in charge on this day and what i'm doing here is pushing it along holding it back and making it thick enough every once in a while during this boiling these green skimmings float to the top this is called a skimmer and actually what the green skimmings are are is chlorophyll and I'm skimming those off it's very important to skim those off without skimming them off the final product would be very strong and bitter it would not be very edible the Gunther's don't use electricity to heat up the syrup so how do they do it well here's a hint for you they use a wood-fired steam locomotive boiler and that keeps even more Gunther's busy throughout the day making sure the fire never goes out at first the Gunther's made the sorghum syrup just for themselves and their close neighbors but that's changed a lot over the years now they make it for thousands of people they don't even know and there's always an audience here locals and first-timers flock here each september and october to see how things were done back in the old days and of course to take some home more or less just started happening word of mouth but we saw that it was a way for us to make a living and we enjoyed doing this and it's worked out good for all of us it's a lot of long hard days a lot of 12 to 16 hour days to do this but you know when when you actually get to the to the mill and actually cooking it down and a lot of people show up and see it and enjoying it maybe bragging a little bit on it it's it's it's worth it once the juice is boiled to perfection it's sent to a cooling tower after that the wives and grandchildren typically take over as they fill the jars while the syrup is still warm a trip to the sorghum mill wouldn't be complete without a taste test and the Gunther's will let you taste the sorghum twice if you ask they'll give you a stock straight out of the field all you have to do is break it in half peel back the outer layer and take a bite you'll have to come inside for that second taste test and of course it's the most important one go to the back near where the ladies fill the jars you'll find a bunch of little straws just like this one and next to it will be a bowl of sorghum all you got to do stick it in twirl it a little bit take a bite it's good stuff and remember this you'll be tasting sorghum syrup not molasses the Gunter's say a lot of folks confuse the two that's understandable because the cooking process is very similar but molasses comes from sugar cane and sorghum syrup comes sorghum cane we have hard times you know getting people to say yeah this is stored them instead of molasses on a good year we will make several thousand gallons it's good on biscuits or cornbread but it's also good in baked beans barbecue sauce Gingerbread popcorn balls cookies pies cakes and i marinate steaks in it it's real good I mix a tomato juice soy sauce and sorghum and marinate steaks and grill them and they are the best steaks you've ever had the Gunther's don't know what it's like to go through fall without making sorghum syrup and they don't have any plans of changing that family tradition any time soon I plan to do this till I die I love it even if I was a multi-millionaire and had lots of money I would still do it because I love I like doing it it's there's nothing that's more satisfying to me I don't know how long my baby be here I'll be nearly 65 years old but I'm going to be around here as long as I'm able to be up I hope the boys keep on and grandchildren keep on doing this you

Channel: Tennessee Crossroads

Views: 102,402

Rating: 4.927928 out of 5

Keywords: Tennessee Crossroads, cane sugar, syrup, sorghum, Monterey, Guenthaler, npt, wnpt, nashville public television, tn, Destinations, People of Tennessee, Restaurants & Food

Id: 1q87lUGW-G0

Length: 5min 59sec (359 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 17 2009