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By MIMI BYRNS
Larry and Donna Haire’s yard in Crittenden County is a frequent stop for dozens of visitors attracted by the sign they have put in front of their house – "Sorghum-making demonstrations."
The family is eager to show passersby their family’s 100-year-old tradition of making syrup from the sorghum plant as well as the newer businesses their teenage granddaughters Tessa and Megan have started. They use sorghum byproducts to make stationery, handmade paper, bookmarkers and other paper products. The family has an impressive assortment of creative ideas on how to turn every part of the sorghum plant into something that can be used in a household, from coasters to jewelry, salves, soaps and lotions, even popcorn and candy.
The family yard is very well equipped with everything needed for sorghum – a term that generally refers to the syrup made from the plant – from presses to a furnace, which is especially attractive to visitors who can see firsthand the entire process of turning the sorghum plant into sorghum juice, which is further processed into delicious syrup.
Not only has the Haire family mastered syrup-making, but they also pay special attention to their family tradition and heritage and serve the delicacies in a manner the previous generations have – on a communal plate over butter.
It takes Larry 5-6 hours and 50 gallons of sorghum juice to produce 5 gallons of syrup. He is enjoys this process, using three presses that are over a century old but still work very well.
"The juice is then cleaned of impurities and concentrated by evaporation in open pans into a clear, amber-colored mild flavored syrup,” Haire said. “This syrup retains all of its natural sugars and other nutrients. It is 100 percent natural and contains no chemical additives of any kind.”
Everyone in this family is very passionate about the sorghum plant and is engaged in the process of turning it into a delicious treat or useful home item. The history of sorghum is presented on handmade posters with pictures, which the family uses in their presentations and demonstrations for guests.
The family has come up with all kinds of products mixed with sorghum byproducts they recycle and reuse.
"My granddaughters Tessa and Megan started their own business, 'TessPress' for handmade paper,” Hair explained. “Besides the sorghum, we grow our own herbs as well, and some of the paper has these herbs in it, like thyme or sage. People love the patterns herbs create on the paper.”
The girls even package their products themselves.
“I am proud that two young teenagers started a business on their own,” Haire continues.
The family processes the sorghum in fall in order to avoid the summer humidity.
“There is the scientific term for the part of the sorghum plant that we call 'pummies.' But we don't use it out of respect for the previous generations who have used the term pummies,” Hair said. “We want to continue that tradition.”
The pummies have to be dried and their fibers broken down. They are then run through a mulcher, and once they get 5 gallons, the pummies are cooked down until a pudding texture.
“I usually add recycled paper in there and mixed it up together,” said Donna Haire, demonstrating the process. “Then we blend everything together and get the paper pulp. Afterwards, we use screens, and we measure the pulp so that each piece of paper gets the same amount of pulp in it. We flip this on a screen, let it dry and that is how we get the paper.”
Depending on the type of recycled paper they mix with the sorghum byproducts, Tessa and Megan get a unique and different feel and thickness of the paper every time. Not a piece of the special plant goes to waste in this family. Even the seed heads of the sorghum are used as decoration on the paper.
Syrup-making is not an easy job.
"It takes six men to cook it,” said Donna.
Sorghum is one of the oldest natural sweeteners known. It was the principal sweetener used as America was being settled. The sorghum cooking pan traveled westward with the frontiersmen. It then became a part of America’s heritage.
Besides being energy food of the settlers, sorghum made foods more tasty and nutritious. Sorghum contains such nutrients as calcium, iron, potassium and phosphorus. The settlers found many ways to use sorghum – sweetening drinks, making confections and flavoring meats – but its most popular use was in baking. It was used in place of sugar in pies, bread, puddings and countless cakes and cookies.
The versatility of sorghum is being rediscovered by today’s nutrition-conscious homemakers.
