• Sweet sorghum has been grown in the United States since the 1850s for use in sweeteners and syrups. In the early 1900s, the United States produced 20 million gallons of sweet sorghum syrup annually. Today, less than one million gallons are produced in the U.S. each year.
• Most sorghum for syrup production is grown in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee.
• Sweet sorghum syrup is made from 100 percent pure juice extracted from sorghum cane. It’s often called “molasses” in some regions of the country, although true molasses is a byproduct of sugarcane.
• Sorghum is a good source of iron, calcium and potassium. Doctors often prescribed sorghum as a daily supplement before daily vitamins were invented.
• Sorghum produces the same amount of ethanol per bushel as corn.
Source: National Sweet Sorghum Producers & Processors Association
