Sorghum Molasses

What makes it different from other molasses'?
What does it taste like?
Is there an ideal substitute if I can't find it?

I was given recipe "inspiration" involving sorghum molasses and I'm clueless, so I thought I'd come to the most informative food site I know!

Emily Hanhan
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7 Comments

Dan S. July 19, 2011
I have never heard of sorghum molasses, but I have seen sorghum syrup in the Union Square Market in Manhattan before from Tony Van Glad of Blenheim Hill located in Stamford, NY. Get a hold of some and see for yourself. 'Molasses' could just be a moniker like 'tapenade' or 'caviar'. Maybe all you need is the syrup. Sorry I couldn't shed more light on this one.
 
susan G. July 19, 2011
Since the sorghum product is called molasses, I'd say get it if you can, or sub what you have. Not blackstrap (which I love) -- something in the middle would be closer, or a grain malt syrup.
 
Emily H. July 19, 2011
The recipe itself is confusing - it's an older recipe. It has sorghum in the title, but the ingredient is listed as molasses. So I am confused too!
 
susan G. July 19, 2011
There seems to be an issue about the word molasses. My dictionary has 1) the syrup remaining from cane sugar refining (paraphrased), and 2) (their words) a syrup made from boiling down sweet vegetable or fruit juice (citrus~).
You can see why we get a little confusion on the question. I keep a dictionary by the computer in case there is a hair to split...
 
Sagegreen July 19, 2011
I think the Sugar Daddy taste is a great way to describe this. There are so many varieties of molasses that have unique regional ties. Lately I have been playing with some that are mideastern. You can find such completely different molasses from dates or pomegranate or mulberry (my favorite). I also have barley malt which I bought to test rolls this past year that is molasses-like. Having been raised with only black strap molasses, there is a whole world of its own out there.
 
susan G. July 18, 2011
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=274
Here's more information than you may need. Basically, sorghum syrup is evaporated from the juice pressed from sweet sorghum, a grain. Sorghum molasses combines this syrup with molasses processed from sugar cane -- a byproduct of sugar refining.
I had it years ago, and as I remember it was along the lines of the Sugar Daddy taste. If you want to move away from cane products, I think that malted grain syrups would be closer in taste (rice malt, barley malt, corn malt, and mixtures of these). It was a traditional sweetener in parts of the South, as molasses was in New England.
 
usuba D. July 18, 2011
I would think it would be how refined the sorghum sugar is. Molasses is a by-product of sugar processing. I am curious too on the taste.
 
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