Family Continues Tradition Of Making Sugar Cane Syrup

Family Continues Tradition Of Making Sugar Cane Syrup SPECIALTY/SERVICES Gene McNabb of Pine Grove La gets his family involved every year in a family tradition of making sugar cane syrup The 87-year-old remembers when he was a boy and his family extracted about 500 gallons of syrup from an acre and it sold for 50 cents a gallon He still has the horse-powered sugar cane grinder that was used to crush the juice out of the cane although these days his family uses an antique mill converted to run off a tractor’s pto Gene’s son John McNabb has Haflinger ponies that he hopes to use on the old grinder in the future It will add to the family gathering that includes his dad himself his brothers a sister and their children “We’ve been making syrup as a hobby for a long time ” he says explaining that the event takes place after a hard freezing frost that drives higher sugar content into the stalk In Louisiana that’s anywhere between the first week of November into December Using a square-ended sugar cane machete leaves are stripped off the cane before the cane stalks are cut and loaded on a trailer They are run through a cane grinder and the juice is strained before going into a 300-gal stainless steel pan on top of a firebox with a hot wood fire As the dregs rise to the top they are skimmed off “Once the water evaporates out you have a thick solution boiling in the pan It will fluff up and you really have to be careful or it can boil over the side of the pan ” McNabb says As soon as it hits 228º F they put out the fire with a garden hose and the syrup is emptied from a spout at the bottom of the pan into a stainless steel pot to cool slightly before filling bottles with the golden syrup Depending on the weather the process can take anywhere from 8 to 16 hrs “It takes 7 to 9 gal of juice to make 1 gal of syrup ” McNabb says noting that the syrup has a brown sugar flavor The cane stubble grows back the following spring and with proper care the cane produces syrup for 4 or 5 years During the syrup-making gatherings the McNabb family enjoys some of the syrup on biscuits made by McNabb’s daughter along with meals of gumbo and other Louisiana cuisine The family splits up the rest of the syrup for personal use and to give as gifts Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gene McNabb 5021 Hwy 449 Pine Grove La 70453 cmix1982@yahoo com

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