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SAINT JAMES, Mo. – Step back in time and discover making sorghum molasses from cane with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) on Sept. 23 at Maramec Spring Park, located at Maramec Spring Hatchery!
Advance registration is recommended and can be completed online at https://mdc-event-web.s3licensing.com/Event/EventDetails/194684.
“You’ll get to try sorghum molasses-making, Dutch oven cooking, stripping sorghum cane of leaves, then feeding it through the mill which extracts the fluid,” said Dwight Warnke, MDC Conservation Educator and program instructor.
Warnke explained the fluid is then heated by fire or steam, which condenses it into a sticky sweet fluid called sorghum molasses.
“A steam engine will power the sorghum mill using a drive belt as well as provide steam to heat one of the condensing pans,” he explained. “We’ll also craft wooden stir paddles on-site with the same tools utilized by early Ozarks’ settlers.”
Participants will have the opportunity to sample the final “sweet” product with biscuits cooked in Dutch ovens, along with fresh-baked molasses cookies.
Maramec Spring Park is privately owned and operated by The James Foundation. There is a $5 park entrance fee per vehicle, per day.
Contact MDC Conservation Educator Dwight Warnke with program questions at Dwight.Warnke@mdc.mo.gov.
Maramec Spring Park is located at 21880 Maramec Spring Dr., 6 miles southeast of Saint James on HWY 8.
Find more free events near you online at mdcmo.gov/events.
