Cornbread

[Nativearizonan]

Cornstalks are really sweet, but you have to harvest them before they turn all that sugar into corn grain. There is a point of maximum sugar somewhere in there, but you would be sacrificing the grain.

We used to grow corn silage, when I was a kid. It was chopped up and packed in silage pits while the stalks were still green so there would be enough sugar and juice in the stalks to ferment, which preserves the silage. It smelled like a brewery when we were feeding it during the winter. It was also warm to the touch and steamed like a hot meal on a cold winter morning.

 

[George]

Thanks, Dave, glad to get that.

You know old men love to tell tales, don't you? Here's one of mine.

My maternal grandparents lived in the country in western Kentucky, and I have many, many fond memories of time spent with them. A favorite is sorghum making. It was the custom in the area to have a community gathering at whichever farm had sorghum to be harvested and for everyone to lend a hand. Very much like the old tradition of the barn raising. One man had a mill to grind the stalks, someone else had the pan for boiling the juice, and both these pieces moved from farm to farm as the sorghum got ready at each. A mule turned the mill, the juice was boiled all day. The men tended to the production of the juice, the women did the boiling. Everyone brought food, and a 'dinner on the ground' was had. I remember very well running around like a wild seven year old banshee with other kids all day long, and a favorite bit was having someone peel a section of sorghum cane for us, leaving just the juicy pith, taking that to the boiling pan and dipping it into the foam, then sucking up the foam and juice. A country popsicle. Kids appreciated simpler pleasures in those days. Simple people in a simpler time. We could use some of that, these days.

Sorry, OT, back to your regular scheduled channel. :grin:

Spence

 

[sidelock]

Oh yes!!!!!! I remember just like you say. A good time was had by all. The song "the old mill press" will bring it all back.

 

[TNGhost]

At one time it was not uncommon for farmers to line the bottom of their silo with earthen jugs to collect the sap/juice of the cornstalks as the weight of those on top pressed the mass down. The sugar therein would ferment and procuce a corn wine or "liquor".

 

[coloradoclyde]

Had a friend that would do that.....said it tasted terrible but got the job done.....

 

[tenngun]

Come spring when the silos were being cleaned out you could count on drunk cattle, dogs,chickens, magpies and crows. Spring country boy entertainment.