“She’s got big ribs and candied yams,

Sugar cured Virginia hams,

And a basement full of homemade jams,

And that’s what I like about the South.” (Andy Razaf) as sung by Phil Harris.

 

Nothing says fall in the country like a Southern sugar cane syrup making. How many out there have experienced it?  When I was growing up north of White Springs on the Woodpecker Route, Daddy and Uncle Warren made cane syrup each fall and so did the late Wilbur B. “Bud” Stormant and his brother the late Mr. E.V. Stormant, all of them resided of the Woodpecker Route and, for years, the late Mr. Harley  Cason made cane syrup at the first rural Folklife Days, and, later, his brother-in-law, Mr. Ivey Harris made it.  Up above the Alapaha in what we call Alapaha County, my sister-in-law’s maternal grandfather, the late Mr. Anson Johnson, made cane syrup for years, and the family still carries on the tradition of cane grinding and syrup making.

Cane grinding and cane syrup making is one of those things that speaks to the Southern heart in a unique way. Theenie Morgan Smith and I recently chatted about how we looked forward to eating the polecat, the candied like residue that forms around the edge of syrup kettle as it begins to boil. The “polecat” was sometimes scraped off using pieces of sugar cane that had been stripped, and these made good suckers. Oh, I loved that pole cat.

Everyone looked forward to that first cane syrup poured over hot biscuits. It was, in its day, an autumn happening in much of our part of the rural south.

Recently, I ran across a recipe that I thought might interest to my readers.

This is a recipe for a sugar cane syrup cake made in a cast iron skillet. It spoke so much to me of fall and cane grindings, I felt compelled to share.

As the cane syrup melts on your tongue, you can almost picture the mule running the cane mill as washed sugarcane is chopped by the revolving blades and then crushed.

Hundreds of school children from around north Florida enjoyed an educational component this year of learning about syrup making at the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center’s  Rural Folklife Days in White Springs earlier in the month. This was a new experience for many of our students. They had such a great time. What a wonderful legacy to pass along.   This Sugar Cane Bread sounds like it would be delicious too.

For this Sugar Cane Syrup Skillet Bread, you can feel the heat of the water as someone adds the pulp and begins the hours of stirring and storytelling.

I am guessing you will want the recipe. This stuff is delicious.

 

Sugar Cane Syrup Skillet Cake

• 1 stick (4 ounces) of softened butter

• 2 cups of all purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 cups of cane syrup, more for serving

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• Dash of nutmeg

• 1/2 cup of buttermilk or sour milk

• 2 teaspoons of vanilla or buttered rum extract

• 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped pecans

 

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt some butter in your cast iron skillet and paint the walls of the skillet by tilting the skillet or using a pastry brush.

2. In a mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in syrup and eggs. Mix thoroughly.

3. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and a dash of nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients mixture a little at a time alternating with buttermilk and mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla or rum extract.

4. Pour batter into the still warm skillet and bake 45 to 60 minutes reducing the heat to 350 degrees once the cake is in the oven. Bake until springy  to the touch. Cool pan for a few minutes. Serve in slices with butter, a sprinkling of chopped nuts and some cane syrup.

 

If you decide to make this dish, give me a call so I can have some too. You think I am kidding, I am not.

Before closing this column for the week, I am going to relate to you that a couple of dear friends and I attended the Madison Antique Show and Craft Sale, and that was not the name of it, but it occurred in Madison on Saturday, November 12, and we had a ball.

It is not often that I am completely blown away by a local shop or event, I am “here to tell you”  The Marketplace in Madison, Florida was worth my entire trip. My word, the most beautiful array of vintage clothing and hats, accessories of all kinds, fabulous antiques, and all set in a shop that gave one the feel that “all is well with the world and God is truly in His heaven.”

Wonderful. 

I also enjoyed the Madison County Historic Museum, as well as browsing through a shop named Southern Grace. Beautiful.

It was an enjoyable day, and I thought about other enjoyable holiday events which, very soon, are on the horizon and, right here in our area, there are many fabulous shops that just beckon and say “Browse.” Suwannee Antiques, as well as the Antique Store across from the Dixie Grill in Live Oak, B’Posh and Gwyn’s in Live Oak, Cornucopia in Wellborn, Florida, and don’t forget Adams Brothers Store, as well as Pickers Collectibles in White Springs. The only piece of advice I would offer any of these shops is this: advertise your business hours and be there when people come.  That is called consistency and having a feeling for your customers.   Go over to Janet Moses’ Blue Goose Studio in Lake City and, while you are there visit the Downtown Art Gallery, fabulous.

Jasper has its Lighting of the Park on Saturday, November 19, White Springs will hold its Christmas Parade and lighting of the  Stephen Foster on Friday, December 2 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park will be illuminated with millions of lights.

Christmas on the Square will be held in Live Oak on December 3 about 9 a.m.. This, in my opinion, is one of the most outstanding holiday events in our area. I will have a table set up behind Suwannee Antiques signing books and selling books, thank you Nancy McCullers. She is so kind to me. Before too much longer, I will be publishing my third book entitled “Destini.” More on that later.

Fall—cane grindings, syrup making, holiday cooking begins, bonfires, oyster roasts. deer hunting.

Just a word of caution to everyone. It is DRY. We desperately need rain. If you build a campfire, tend it with care. All the deer hunters, remember a cigarette thrown out the window can cause thousands of acres to burn. Exercise caution.

Have a good week.

From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs wishing you a day filled with joy, peace, and, above all, lots of love and laughter.