Stanley Schrock reckons his family has made enough sorghum through the years to give everyone in the Ozarks a tiny taste of “nature’s candy.”
“Actually, probably everybody in the world,” he chuckles as he carefully pours the prized sweet stuff into mason jars. “Too many gallons to count!”
Stanley, a sixth-generation sorghum maker, doesn’t spill a single drop as he aims the steady stream into the glass. You can tell he’s done this delicate drip dance a time or two. This is his family’s 30th year pressing cane at Silver Dollar City’s Harvest Festival, but it’s their 56th year in the sorghum business.
A common misconception is that sorghum and molasses are the same.
“They’re completely different but folks always call it molasses,” he smiles. “Molasses is made from a sugar cane and sorghum comes from a sorghum cane.”
Those canes can only grow in certain parts of the country. That’s why the syrupy sweeteners are rooted in different regions. Sugar cane can grow in the South and northerners use maple syrup as a natural sweetener. In middle America, though, those sorghum canes grow just right. It takes a sprawling stack of them to make the sticky stuff.
Stanley’s parents, Doris and Coby, now 94, perfected the process and passed the sorghum secrets down to their children. Though they occasionally join the festivities, Stanley now handles the daily operations using a pioneer-era press he refurbished. “When I was a teenager, I got it from a man who was about 90 years old. It’s roughly 180 years old!” he shares, proudly.
It still gets the sweet job done though. Sorghum’s journey to jars also takes the cooperation of a stubborn old mule.
“Oh, Bonnie. She’s feeling feisty today,” Stanley says as he gives her a tender pat on the back. “In a way, she’s the star of this whole operation.”
The sorghum steps start every spring when the cane is planted and then harvested 120 days later once it reaches eight to ten feet tall. The leaves are stripped in the field and the cut cane is laid across the wagon so the seed heads can be chopped off for livestock feed. The Schrocks haul the cane to The City and prep the press.
“We hitch up Bonnie and she pulls the press around,” he explains. “We sit there and feed the cane into the press, which mashes it and squeezes juice into the bucket as it’s strained through a gunny sack. When the bucket is full, we bring it over to the fire and strain it again through a muslin bag. We keep crushing and straining until we get about 15 gallons of raw juice.”
The fire then finishes it off. As the juice reaches a medium boil, a green film from the cane rises to the top and has to be skimmed off. The vat of juice boils for four to five hours. When it’s done, the 15 gallons of juice will be cooked down to a little more than a gallon. So, what’s added then?
“Nothing,” Stanley smiles. “We don’t add a single thing to sorghum. Pure sweetness in its pure form is all that’s in that jar. We’re mighty proud of that!”
There are many ways to enjoy a jar of fresh sorghum, but Stanley has a few favorites.
“Put it on hot biscuits, cornbread and pancakes,” he excitedly rattles on. “You can make the best meat glaze, cookies, pies and cakes! I put it on baked sweet potatoes. I even remember pulling it into taffy at my one-room schoolhouse.”
There are many ways to eat it but only one way to buy it.
“You can only get Schrock Family Sorghum at Silver Dollar City’s General Store,” he beams. “Even better is you can also buy our mama’s recipe book and find your own favorite ways to enjoy it with those you love.”
Stanley’s family is always happy at Harvest time when they return to The City to catch up with visitors and its special Citizens. Stanley’s sister Marilyn plays piano at the park’s Wilderness Church all season but the rest of the crew counts down the days until it's sorghum time once again.
“It’s so gratifying to see the same faces year after year,” he says as he gives Bonnie one more ‘good girl’ pep talk. “I love sharing our legacy. It brings back memories for them and shows them wonderful things can be made without automation. Helping folks learn about old times is the only way to keep our work alive. Life can be so sweet when it’s simple.”
As Public Relations Manager for the Silver Dollar City Company, she is eager to tap into her journalism background to hunt down “heart tugs” to write about—those stories that celebrate…
