In response to the significant rise in price of maple syrup, my natural sweetener choice for pancakes, french toast, and the like, I have been on the lookout and search for a cheaper and yet natural alternative.
Maple syrup, according to Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, is “the concentrated sap of huge deciduous trees, maple syrup is rich in trace minerals, brought up from below ground by the tree’s deep roots.”
Maple syrup has such wonderful taste and is much more healthy than any store bought brand syrup, which are loaded with sugar. Due to a lack of supply this year, the price has gone up $6-7 dollars per quart from my local Trader Joe’s, leaving us with a total cost of $16.99 or $17.99 per quart (depending upon which grade you choice). Wow!
Enter…Sorghum Syrup (also known as sorghum molasses)! Sorghum, also according to NT, is “a sweetener once popular in the Southern Unites States, sorghum syrup is made from sweet sorghum, a grain related to millet that grows on woody stalks to a height of 15 feet…Sorghum syrup contains B vitamins and minerals like iron, calcium and phosphorous. It can be used in place of maple syrup.”
Hmm…that last phrase caught my eye. Sorghum syrup is available through Azure Standard (my natural bulk food resource) for $6.95 per quart! That is a significant difference. being only a third the price of maple syrup.
Many Sorghum Uses
Sorghum has a slightly molasses flavor but is not the same as molasses (molasses is a by-product of the sugar industry), and we have found many uses for it already:
- Combine with a little butter on top of biscuits or cornbread - gives a wonderful almost butterscotch flavor, as my husband described it.
- Heat and serve over pancakes, french toast, waffles, etc and the result is a wonderful gingerbread flavor! Some brands are stronger than others, so after some experimenting I have found this one works better in combination with a little maple syrup and water to stretch the maple syrup for these uses. I use approximately 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/8 cup sorghum and 1/4 cup water. Heat on stove and serve! Yum!
- Use to sweeten baked beans, BBQ sauce (I came across these recipes while writing this post and I can’t wait to try them!)
- Makes yummy caramel popcorn - use in replacement of corn syrup!
- Ginger Snap cookies
- For many more recipes for use in main dishes, desserts, breads, candies, etc. visit here.
- Can be used in replacement of maple syrup, honey & molasses in all your baking! Here is a helpful guideline:
- Honey and Molasses one to on basis in most cases. In baking recipes that call for molasses, substitute sorghum but reduce the sugar by 1/3. This should be done, because sorghum is sweeter than molasses.
- Ordinary sugar: Increase the amount of sorghum by 1/3 over the amount of sugar called for and decrease the amount of liquid (water and/or milk) by this same amount.
Other Sources:
That’s my frugal tip for the day!
I would love to hear if anyone else has experimented with sorghum! Please share!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:48 am
We use honey to sweeten pancakes and what not (have to just use a little) . What better sweetener than honey? 100% natural.
[Reply]
Lindsay replied on August 1st, 2008:
Honey is very sweet and thus would be too much for our tastes. I use it mainly for baking. Pure sorghum & maple syrup as described above are 100% natural as well. If you prefer honey, make sure it is raw honey, which would be 100% natural. Raw honey is normally more expensive than sorghum as well.
[Reply]
Kate replied on August 1st, 2008:
Oh definitely raw honey. We don’t use a lot anyways. Mabe a teaspoon or two. I use honey in other things, like dressings and stuff, so it’s like a staple. if I use it in other things, it doesn’t seem like I’m spending too much.
[Reply]
August 1st, 2008 at 9:02 am
well…if that’s NOT some great research….thanks woman for the time you take to teach your readers :-)…and i like the price….i gasped this week at my grade b traders syrup….as i put the little sweetie in my cart…so, thanks…for the suggestion.
love to u….’me’
[Reply]
August 1st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Yes, please share your tips everyone! I’ve just joined up with Azure Standard and I’d love to find a cheaper alternative to pure maple syrup. The price hasn’t gone up much at Costco, but shelling out $20 for the maple syrup at one time is a huge ding in my weekly budget.
Love love LOVE your blog, by the way!!
[Reply]
August 1st, 2008 at 9:45 am
This is great! I was at the store yesterday and I wanted to buy some maple syrup but I couldn’t dish out the $16.99 for it…wow. I will have to give this a try! Thanks for sharing!
[Reply]
August 1st, 2008 at 10:08 am
Can you find organic sorghum? Where? Thanks!
[Reply]
Lindsay replied on August 1st, 2008:
Yes, I found one source here, although the price was significantly higher than the Azure option. Becoming certified organic is a expensive process, so small farms cannot often afford it, but if you research their practices, often they are as high of quality as organic. Azure is a highly reputable source.
[Reply]
August 1st, 2008 at 10:14 am
Interesting stuff! How does the sorghum effect your blood sugar, as I was told by a friend who loves maple syrup, that maple syrup is eliminated from the body before it completely breaks down into sugar. Is sorghum 100% natural like maple syrup?
[Reply]
Lindsay replied on August 1st, 2008:
Yes, sorghum is 100% natural just like pure maple syrup and raw honey. It is not sugar so I don’t believe it would have a great effect on your blood sugar levels.
[Reply]
August 1st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I grew up with mom using sorghum. I don’t remember ever using real maple syrup until I married. It was either real sorghum or Aunt Jemima.
Mom always mixed it with room temperature butter before using on pancakes and such. (Although we lived in the Midwest, she was from Kentucky.)
[Reply]
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
FYI - Half-gallon jugs of grade A maple syrup are on sale at Costco for $9.97, after jumping around between $15 to $21 for the past year. They’re in #7 plastic jugs, though, for those of you who avoid that. We’re still waffling about plastic and bought our first maple syrup in a year.
[Reply]
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
THANK YOU!!! I had switched, with much sadness, from Maple syrup to Log Cabin, or whatever syrup was at the store, because of the price. But I can’t bring myself to serve it. Thank Heavens I came across this, and thank you for posting it. I just thought it was one of those things I’d have to give up as prices rise (there have been many things…)
Being a Southerner, I never knew about Maple Syrup until I was an adult, but I got hooked. Just in time for it to be far too expensive for us to afford. We have local cane boils around here all the time, and I often wondered about cane syrup instead. But now I know - sorghum!!
I’m am SO trying it out.
[Reply]
August 4th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Thanks for the tip Lindsay! I couldn’t believe the price increase @ Trader Joe’s!
I love sorghum…it tastes so good…but I have never thought of replacing maple syrup with sorghum…I’ll try it now though!
Let us know how the campout went.
Samara
[Reply]
August 4th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Great tip, thanks. I always have maple extract so I might try and flavor some for pancakes!
[Reply]
August 6th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
We had tried the sorghum last year, but my kids didn’t like the flavor. So we went back to maple syrup. The price difference at the local Piggly Wiggly wasn’t that noticable. So we stick to real maple syrup for pancakes, honey for sweetening and molassis for making home made graham crackers.
Blessings, Beth Ann
[Reply]