Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-11-22
SUGAR AND MoLAssro

",eu oy Sorghum Dor
During the War "a ssua
At home and abroad sor0h,,.
1ake tne place Of the vanisbaic came 70
The children at home ate !, i ; sugar
ger cakes, and the soldies \ 'ilelr ga
drank it in their rye coffee y n camp
lasses and sugar Of Louisiana ~. llie tld
durable in degree till the fan were prd
burg; but the spirit Of indanar9o' vcks
rife, and each state desireJ Inuenee va,
mined to rely as much a. a''a deter
on Its own products. IT, potsibs
OF state sovereignty was theory
even to sorghum. and ,@'ended
d e tor was hailed everywhere : liitro
OF the greatest boons Of a s,n As Os
Providence. The juice of u, TIenefeea
extracted in a primitive fasbion e can,
ing the stalks between wood y erVsl.
revolving upon wooden cogs Ann, rUles
by horse-and-iittle-darky DOW. PEELED
caught in an ordinary trn,,b er' va
down INTO proper consistency T. OlIed
ing kettles, kitchen pots ~ - preser,
might be utilized for the burma ~aa'ers
barreled for use as sorghum po and
The syrup thus produced woa OlassS
palatable one. with a slightly ~ 9ullea
and not disagreeable flavor br. e'lul0R
unpleasant tendency to make tbo WIN a.
sore. 1t was known as long ~ S,n aloOlh
ing, in COntradistinction 70 "eele1.
cessor, ''short sweetening y" ~ ~ pfele'
that was scarce. sugar
From its use in the place Of srr.
ghum soon leaped into high rpnn nsai 't'
almost universal food staple J. a an
warranted to cure any case Of bna Wai
man or beast. Writers in the snar ,seI
daily press undertook in elaborsstaa' sl'e
exhaustive essays to show THAI so ,v aug
syrup was nearly as nutritious os selll
and an exceedingly good substituta a t o'4
while the seed Of the sorghum c,,o
capable OF being ground into n MOI y. ~
made a most excellent and wLoIa.' '1'
brown bread. They claimed tba, g y
problem of blockaded existence hail. I' IL "
solved in the discovery of a plant M rs,
produced in itself meat and braad " ~
the human family and provepdor ~ ~
cattle. Yet the average denizpp ~ ~
COnfederacy, whether at home or /, ~ ~
army, while rendering due credit h t'
ingenuity and skill with which tbo c,n ~
of the food staple was adyocate1 /.
its champions, appealed to the higher =.
bltrament of his own digestion. srI
though willing to accord sorghum
real merit as serviccable and usefns
the place of something better. he VA
always ready to exchange it for tbemn.
certain and familiar nutriment of haor
and corn pone " To see it fulfil hs
functions of sugar in the latest recipe ir
Confederate coffee and tea was Ws7
enough; but quietly to submit to il
usurpatiOn of the high places of pork and
corn was more than the appetite Of
hungry rebeldom would endure.
There was a secondary use to which
sorghum was put, in which it met with
decided favor from a select few. This
was its use in the manufacture Of black.
ing. The manuscript recipe books Of
that day say that wonderful shoe black.
ing, as good as Mason's best, can be
made of sorghum molasses, pinewOOd
SCOT, meats foot oil and vinegar.
Yet, on the theory of the survival Of
the tittest, the average Confederate must
have been right and the theoretic writers
in the newspapers wrong about the value
of sorghum, for bacon and corn bread
have long since regained their wOntd
ascendency in the south, and sorghum
has vanished entirely from the fields
where it once lourished, save, perhaps
where here and there some man and
91 T@cE pa atlYtGs aking yeS o4 " sEeeep
ing" for the consumption OF his famlJ
in as primitive Il method as that in which
he helped his quondam owner to make It
''endurin' O tue wah.'
In the hardest times of the war period,
when provisions were the scarcest, tie
latch to the larder of every southern
housekeeper hung out to each southern
soldier, no matter how ragged or humble
For him the best viands about the plaza
were always prepared; and his was the
high prerogatlve of receiving the last cup
of real coffee, sweetened with the solitary
remnant of sugar. With compassionate
pity the women recognized the hardshiEN
in the army life Of the Confederate soldier,
and were always ungrudgingly ready 70
mitigate its seventies in every posa0s
manner.-A. c. Gordon in The Century