Sweet sorghum facts for kids
Sweet sorghum is a special type of sorghum plant. Its stalks are full of natural sugars. This plant grows very well in dry and warm places. Farmers mostly grow sweet sorghum for animal feed, called forage or silage. They also grow it to make sweet syrup.
In some parts of the United States, sweet sorghum syrup is called "sorghum molasses." But usually, the word molasses means a thick, sweet syrup made from sugarcane or sugar beets.
Growing Sweet Sorghum
Sweet sorghum has been grown a lot in the U.S. since the 1850s. People used it to make sweeteners, especially sorghum syrup. In the early 1860s, the American Civil War made it hard to get sugar and molasses from other places. This was because trade was stopped, and supplies went to the military. The Southern states, in particular, had trouble getting sugar from the Caribbean.
Because of this, many farms started growing sweet sorghum for syrup. This helped people have a sweet option when other sugars were scarce. It also made sweet sorghum a part of Southern food culture. By the early 1900s, the U.S. made about 20 million US gallons (76,000 m³) of sweet sorghum syrup each year.
Making syrup from sorghum takes a lot of hard work. After World War II, fewer people were available to work on farms. This caused sorghum syrup production to drop a lot. Today, less than 1 million US gallons (3,800 m³) are made in the U.S. every year.
In Central India, sweet sorghum was introduced in the 1970s. It was grown there for making ethanol (a type of fuel) and syrup. Sweet sorghum syrup is also good for you because it has helpful plant compounds. It is used in food, drinks, and even medicines. Now, it is grown in large areas as a fodder crop for animals.
Most sorghum grown for syrup in the U.S. is found in states like Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Uses of Sweet Sorghum
Sorghum syrup with hot biscuits is a classic breakfast in the Southern United States. People also pour sorghum syrup on pancakes, cornmeal mush, grits, and other hot cereals. You can use it in cooking as a sweetener, much like molasses. However, blackstrap molasses usually has more nutrients than sorghum syrup. In India, sweet sorghum syrup is now promoted as a healthy food.
Since the 1950s, most sorghum in the U.S. has been grown for animal feed. Farmers use it as forage and silage for cattle. This is especially true in the Great Plains (like Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska). In these areas, there isn't enough rain, and temperatures are high. This makes it hard to grow corn, so sorghum is a better choice.
Grain sorghum has also been used to make ethanol for a long time. It produces about the same amount of ethanol per bushel as corn. As new ways to make ethanol get better, sorghum's role in fuel production might grow. Texas A&M University has even studied which types of sorghum are best for making ethanol from their leaves and stalks.
In India and other places, sweet sorghum stalks are used to make biofuel. The juice is squeezed out and then turned into ethanol. This crop is great for dry areas because it uses much less water than sugarcane. It only needs about one-seventh of the water that sugarcane uses.
A study by researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) found something interesting. If farmers grew sweet sorghum instead of grain sorghum, they could earn more money. They could make about US$40 more per hectare for each crop. This is because sweet sorghum can provide food, animal feed, and fuel. Grain sorghum is currently grown on over 11 million hectares in Asia and 23.4 million hectares in Africa. So, switching to sweet sorghum could really help farmers earn more.
See also
In Spanish: Melaza de sorgo para niños
