Food and Recipes Cooking Tips and Techniques In Season: Sorghum Syrup If you've never tasted sorghum on a hot buttered biscuit, you've only half lived. By Southern Living Editors Updated on September 19, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email In the mountain South it's known as long sweetnin' for its lingering rich-as-honey finish. Steeped in backcountry tradition, sorghum syrup making is an art--a magical, end-of-summer alchemy bottled in a mason jar. To Buy Look for 100% pure sorghum syrup at farm stands or specialty markets, or order online. Unlike molasses, sorghum has a buttery complexity. To Store Tuck it into a dark kitchen cupboard, ready to drizzle over baked apples, hot cornbread, or a down-home version of caramel macchiato. To Cook Substitute it in equal amounts for corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, or molasses in recipes. To Party Syrup-making festivals with hand-harvested sorghum cane and mule-drawn presses are held across the South from late August to mid-October. Sorghum syrup-making festivals with hand-harvested sorghum cane and mule-drawn presses are held across the South from late August to mid-October. One of the largest festivals, in the beautiful mountain town of Blairsville, Georgia spans two weekends--October 9-10 and 16-17. Mountaineer Folk Festival Fall Creek Falls State Park Pikeville TN 37367 September 10-12, 2010 423/881-5708 visitfallcreekfalls.com Cades Cove Smoky Mountains National Park September 4-6 and 17-19, November 5-7 and 12-14, 2010 865/436-1200 865/436-7318 Fall Heritage Festival and Old Timers Day Townsend, TN September 24, 25, 2010 800/525-6834 smokymountains.org 7th Annual Old Mill Heritage Day Pigeon Forge, TN September 25, 2010 865/428-0071 oldmillheritageday.com Dollywood National Southern Gospel Music & Harvest Celebration Pigeon Forge, TN September 29-October 30, 2010 (closed Thursdays) 800/365-5996 dollywood.com Fall Homecoming Museum of Appalachia Norris, TN October 7-10, 2010 865/494-7680 museumofappalachia.org Music and Molasses Arts & Crafts Festival Ellington Agriculture Center Nashville, TN October 16-17, 2010 615/837-5197 tnagmuseum.org 36th Annual Midway Fall Festival Midway, KY September 18-19, 2010 859/846-4966 midwayfallfestival.org Morgan County Sorghum Festival West Liberty, KY September 24-26, 2010 859/398-1428 cityofwestliberty.com/sorghumfestival.htm Shockley's Old Timey Days Hillsville, VA September 25-26, 2010 (rain dates October 2-3) 276-733-4953 Murray's Mill Harvest Folk Festival Catawba, NC September 25-26, 2010 828/464-0383 catawbahistory.org Clifford Ruritan Club Sorghum Festival Clifford, VA October 2-3, 2010 434/946-2208 Harvest Festival Renfro Valley, KY October 1-3, 2010 800/765-7464 renfrovalley.com Kentucky Wool Festival Falmouth, KY October 1-3, 2010 606/735-3402 Sorghum Festival Michigan City, MS Burton Sugar Farm October 2, 2010 662/224-4950 burtonsugarfarm.com Madison County Fair Marshall, NC August 26-28, 2010 (Sorghum-making demos August 28) 828/649-2411 41st Annual Sorghum Festivals Blairsville, GA Meek's Park October 9-10 and 16-17, 2010 sorghum.blairsville.com Voyles' Sorghum Making Ava, MO October 9, 2010 417/683-3107 Homestead Festival Harrisburg, AR The Whitehall Community October 9-10, 2010 parkerhomestead.com October Court Days Mount Sterling, KY October 15-18, 2010 859/498-8732 mtsterlingtourism.com Old School Sorghum Festival Garland, NC October 16, 2010 910/564-5069 oldschoolsorghum.com Prairie Rose Farm Fall Celebration Pryor, OK October 16, 2010 918/695-7481 prairieroseok.com Corn Shucking Frolic Pinnacle, NC Horne Creek Farm October 16, 2010 336/325-2298 nchistoricsites.org/horne/ 35th Annual Sorghum Day Festival Wewoka, OK October 23, 2010 405/257-5485 wewokachamber.samsbiz.com Sourcery Look for 100% pure sorghum syrup at farm stands and specialty markets (such as Whole Foods), or order online from one of these suppliers. Molasses, a byproduct of sugar making, lacks sorghum's buttery complexity. Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill Monterey, TN 931/445-3589 muddypondsorghum.com Charles Kramer Lynnville, IA 515/594-4369 maasdamsorghum.com Sandhill Farm, Inc. Rutledge, MO 660/883-5543 info@sandhillfarm.org Hillside Orchard Farms, Inc. Tiger, GA 706/782-4995 or 866/782-4995 hillsideorchard.com Sorghum Snapshots View a film clip classic of sorghum syrup making in Flatwoods, Texas--hosted by Mike Seibert, the former District Attorney of Eastland. Visit Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill in Monterey, Tennessee. Or, take a pictorial trip to Onion Creek Farm in Dripping Springs, Texas, and watch the harvest of "Honey Drip" heirloom sweet sorghum http://drippingsprings.dsbabble.com/2009/07/21/sorghum-pressing-and-processing--onion-creek-farm-day-two-a-pictorial.aspx. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit