Sweet Sorghum, Dale

The source of sorghum molasses, arguably the best source of sugar for temperature climates, sweet Sorghum produces gallons and gallons of high brix juice, literally as sweet as soda. The sweet canes are the most heavenly thing you’ll try out of a garden. When cooked down the molasses is usually describes as somewhere between cane syrup/blackstrap and honey

This variety, dale started the season this year at a brix reading of 13.5 (milk stage) and ending at 15.5 (hard dough)

I press my Sorghum with a sugar cane press and it works great for homestead quantities. I get about a cup of juice per plant, spaced every 6in of row

The seed is also eaten as a corn like grain and if timed properly you’ll get 30-50bu/acre grain as well as 200gal/acre molasses. Truly impressive

Grain and juice have been used in beer production

Sorghum originated in Africa but is extremely well adapted to our part of the world. As a grain it’s quite similar to corn, hence the name broom corn. Some varieties have high tannins in the seed but dale and almost all American grown sorghums are low tannin and I can attest this is very palatable especially mixed with flour

A simple roller mill does a decent job grinding it, something that cannot be said about corn.

A C4 plant Sorghum is highly efficient at high temperatures and more drought tolerant, capable of outperforming corn in dry years.