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     Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, is a tropical grass that can be grown for grain, forage, or syrup depending on the specific type.  Grain sorghum is sometimes called millet, which is name used for several grains in different genera that have similar appearance and use.  The sorghum used for forage is Sudan grass and it differs from grain sorghum by having (smaller) grain that is (still) covered at maturity thus it is considered to be a separate subspecies.

     The problem with Sudan grass is that it is an annual in zone 7 thus the seed expensive seed appears to be either adulterated with Johnson grass, Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers., to make it appear to be a perennial hay producer, or Johnson grass is dishonestly marketed as perennial Sudan grass.  It will take years to eradicate an extensive infestation of Johnson grass that occurred this way on land I now own.  Similarly my grandfather had spent years digging out all the Johnson grass on his farm with a shovel.  Then when he retired from farming and rented the land where the tenant farmer commented that of all the land he rented this was the only field not infested with Johnson grass then proceeded to enter the field with equipment covered with Johnson grass seed from the other fields resulting in an immediate re-infestation.  Immature sorghum also contains prussic acid which converts to cyanide if consumed, therefore, caution should be exercised when used as a forage crop.

     Due to these reason the only type of sorghum that I will probably ever grow is sweet sorghum, which are varieties of grain sorghum that have less grain, but are taller due to being grown for the sweeter culm (stalk)thus making it suitable for sorghum syrup.  The downside to being taller is that these varieties are more subject to lodge (fall over) whether leaning then resulting in crooked stalks or breaking where the result is increased processing cost and/or decreased yield.  An internet article has it wrong saying sweet sorghum is shorter and grown for the foliage although the leaves are typically stripped off prior to expressing the juice from the stalks since they introduce more impurities in the juice, similarly the article states that sorghum festivals celebrate sorghum grain thus showing how ignorant the author/editors are of sorghum syrup.  One thing that most people don’t know is that a modern processing step that prevents syrup from jelling is to add enzymes that could be done naturally if the cane was chewed first, thus the modern method is preferable despite the processing temperature being above the boiling point of water.  These same enzymes are used to convert cornstarch into corn syrup, which explains why there are not large operations similarly squeezing juice out of corn stalks.

     Depending on the variety of sweet sorghum the syrup processing runs from August through October although I have seen an entire stand lost in October due to an early frost.  Meanwhile a new pan was destroyed when a warped bottom was "fixed" despite the pan being designed to flatten at the correct operating temperature.  My granddad grew a crop of sorghum when I was in elementary school.  I took pieces of cane to school for a snack the whole time it was available.  Unfortunately he didn't grow any more because he made less on the syrup than both the processor and the person who effectively stole his seed needed to plant another crop.