Déjà Vu All Over Again: Sorghum Soaring

The ongoing revival of forgotten foodstuffs has collided with the long-running resurgence of Southern cuisine to produce a veritable flood of sorghum syrup. The past few years have seen the sweet stuff popping up all over the place, supported by the inevitable emergence of small-batch producers of sorghum products.

Sorghum is a widely grown cereal grain used primarily for animal fodder today. But in days past, it was the primary sweetening agent on the Southern table. Its contemporary comeback is most evident in the South and on Southern-style menus elsewhere.

It’s fabulous in food, such as the traditional Antebellum Cornbread with sorghum butter at Hungry Mother in Cambridge, MA. In Chicago, sorghum molasses finishes the Toasted Oat-Apple Streusel Pancakes at Big Jones, while Bang Bang Pie Shop offers a nifty Biscuit Topping Bar that includes sorghum butter alongside creative condiments like cherry chai and blueberry-lavender jam. It also coexists peacefully with uptown items, as witness the sophisticated Catfish Mousse with sorghum seeds at Seersucker in Brooklyn or the Duck served with Farro and Sorghum Sugo at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in Memphis. Of course, it’s being used in desserts, too, like Annie’s Sorghum Cake at Holeman & Finch Public House in Atlanta or Sorghum Crème Br?lée at trendy Stars Rooftop & Grill Room in Charleston, SC. And it adds cachet to non-Southern menus, like Lisa Dupar’s in Seattle. Her catering bill of fare features sorghum molasses vinaigrette atop a Sherry Pear and Arugula Salad.

It’s also delicious in drinks, such as Seersucker’s Sorghum Old Fashioned or the bourbon-based Cumberland Sour at Rolf and Daughters in Nashville. It’s in the Sudan Grass Ale, a version of an authentic African brew, at Dock Street Brewery in Philadelphia.

While it’s unlikely that sorghum will seriously threaten the market share of better established sweetening options, it does have nutritional advantages that may give it traction in some quarters. It has both natural sugar and calories, but it’s gluten-free and contains vitamins and minerals, which for many consumers is the best of all possible worlds.

Photo of homegrown blueberries with sorghum syrup by mystuart/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license