Sorghum is a sweetener that our ancestors use over 100 years ago, and an old-time remedy for health. Before multivitamins, doctors  prescribed a daily Tablespoon of sorghum syrup for necessary iron, calcium, and potassium.  (For a breakdown of nutrition details see the list at the end of this post.)  

Classic Country Foods (CCF) Sorghum is harvested by hand, which means no weeds are gathered in a mass machine cutting.  This results in a pure, light syrup.  Hold your jar of CCF Sorghum up to the light and you will see the clear golden color.  Try the light test with other sorghum syrups and you will immediately see a dark cast and floaters as additional harvested field plants in the crush change the product.   CCF Sorghum cane is crushed with a horse powered grinder, and the juice is kettle boiled over a wood fire.  Talk about back to basics for tasty sweeteners!   

Suggestions for Sorghum in your recipes: 

  • Take that daily Tablespoon for health.  
  • Stan uses Sorghum in his coffee and tea.   
  • Pancake and waffle topping. Substitute Sorghum for honey or maple syrup as a healthful, and cheaper alternative.  You can use 1/2 sorghum, 1/2 honey or maple syrup, until you adjust your taste – and start getting the health benefits immediately.
  • In baking use 1/2 a cup of sorghum as a substitute for 1 cup of sugar in your recipes.  Sorghum is perfect for use with strong flavored ingredients, like pumpkin muffins, zucchini bread and gingersnaps.  
  • I have two recipes that make wonderful use of Sorghum on the Classic Country Foods web-site blog already:  
  • Sorghum  Glazed Fried Apples 
  •  and Orange Zinger Sorghum Pecans.

Denise

For my nutrition label readers here is what just 1 Tablespoon of sorghum provides: 

  • 30 mg calcium (3% DV)
  • 300 mg protein
  • .76 mg iron (almost as high as blackstrap molasses; 4% DV)
  • 20mg magnesium (5%DV)
  • 11 mg phosphorus 
  • 200 mg potassium (almost 6% DV)
  • .80 mg zinc (5% DV) 
  • .03 mg riboflavin (a B vitamin; almost 2% DV)

Source: americansorghum.com  

If you choose sugar or even honey you get zero (sugar) and no where near (honey) the nutrition benefits of sorghum. 

NOTE:  If you are diabetic or need to avoid blood sugar spikes, sorghum is not a safe alternative sweetener.