I have been tossing around this idea of starting a blog for quite a while. After spending what I deemed to be an adequate amount of time researching blogs and how to start them, I made the plunge. So, here I am. The next hurdle was deciding how to sign on for my very first blog. What brilliant, imaginative, and interesting first sentence can I create to attract the attention of people who will actually want to read my entire post? Do I weave 12 facts about me in the first sentence to give the reader an idea of just how interesting I am ? Do I display my southern charm? Should I impress them by sharing my knowledge of little know facts and figures? Maybe I should simply say, “This is my first blog. Please read it.” I think I will leave it at that for now.
Today is Sunday and our family, with the exception of our college student, gathered at our home for Sunday Dinner. There is something very special about Sunday Dinners. It’s much more than just eating a good meal on Sunday. Perhaps it’s the tradition of families worshiping together and sharing a meal together that is nostalgic and warm. Maybe it’s the anticipation of sharing happy family time without the common work week pressures. Whatever the reason, I love Sunday Dinners and today was extra special. Today, I was able to connect five generations and the connection was strong and mighty. The connector is in the menu and , of course, the title of this blog. Here’s the menu:
Sunset Ranch Beef Brisket with Barbecue Sauce
Homemade Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup
Fresh Picked Mixed Greens
Hot Water Cornbread
Cane Syrup Cake
The beef brisket was purchased from a local producer who raises grass-fed beef, Jim Kuntzelman at Sunset Ranch (https://www.sunsetranchfl.com/). I will be visiting Sunset Ranch and the Kuntzelmans very soon and plan to devote a blog post to them and their remarkable operation. If you honor me with your virtual presence and do read my posts, you will learn a lot about Sunset Ranch and their devotion to ethical and environmentally favorable ranching. Florida living provides two growing seasons and, as such, we were able to grow tomatoes through last week and provide the tomatoes for the soup today. Collards, turnip greens, mustard greens, rutabaga greens and spinach from our garden were cooked with ham hocks. Hot water cornbread is a rustic bread made simply from stone ground cornmeal, salt and hot water. It’s formed into patties and fried until golden brown. Now to the star of the production: the Cane Syrup Cake.
I grew up knowing a lot about cane syrup but never knew about Cane Syrup Cake until fairly recently. My Grandaddy, Payton Phillips, ate cane syrup and biscuits for breakfast almost everyday of his life. Cane syrup was the only syrup that existed in my world for a long, long time. The difference in the taste between cane syrup and maple syrup is about that same as the taste difference between oranges and avocados. You can barely tell they belong to the same food group. Both are sweet but that’s about where the similarities end. Cane syrup has a much more robust flavor and appearance. It is a hearty syrup. Lovers of cane syrup may consider maple syrup to be wimpy but that’s just a matter of opinion. My memories of the mule powered cane press in Geneva, AL are vivid. Grandaddy would love to take us to the cane press when it was in operation so we could chew chunks of sugar cane and watch the mule walk round and round as the juice was extracted from the cane. There was always a cast iron pot of boiling cane juice that would be rendered down to make cane syrup. The aroma of the boiling syrup was as robust as the flavor. Cane syrup is part of my history. I sat at my grandparents table, poured cane syrup into my bowl, mixed in softened butter and sopped it up with fresh hot biscuits. Syrup and biscuits. As I was doing research for my cookbook “Apron Strings”, I kept coming across references to Cane Syrup Cake which a dish that is at least 100 years old with Cajun origins. I thought I just had to test a recipe so I found one that was printed in the New York Times. Since the recipe called for 2 cups of cane syrup, I was glad I had enough on hand since our local grocery store doesn’t carry it. And I used my grandmother’s flour sifter that I just love.
My grandparents would buy cane syrup in large jars from locals before they could buy it in the grocery stores. Once it became commercialized, Top o’ the World was their favorite brand. That company is no longer in existence.
So, I made the Cane Syrup Cake for Sunday Dinner. The texture is very moist and the flavor is reminiscent of gingerbread minus the ginger. Simply thinking of cane syrup, using my granny’s sifter and gathering my syrup bottles made this day filled with nostalgia. But seeing my grandchildren, Jackson and Ella, enjoy their first taste of cane syrup in the cake that I made using Granny’s sifter with Grandaddy’s syrup bottle sitting in front of them was a reminder of why Sunday Dinners are special.
Now the story of five generations and cane syrup has been told. I hope you enjoyed it.
Y’all come see us!
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Cane Syrup Cake
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
2 cups cane syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
½ cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Chopped pecans and whipped cream for topping
Grease and flour a tube pan, large loaf pan or 13×9 inch baking pan. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Mix in syrup and eggs. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Add half of this mixture and half the buttermilk to syrup mixture and mix. Repeat with the rest of the flour mixture and buttermilk. Add vanilla and mix. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes until cake is springy to touch. Cool and serve with whipped cream and pecans.
Judy Burnham says
My father-in-law also had a cane mill like you described. But because he lived in the city limits, he could not have a mule so he used his riding lawn mower to power the mill. Round and round he would go. He grew sugar cane every year and would always share syrup with us. Thanks for bringing this memory to mind.
karen says
Jackie,
Felt like I had a little visit to your kitchen…very fun and interesting. You put so much love and energy into your cooking. I can only admire from afar:)
Jackie Garvin says
Karen,
I have a place set for you and Bill at our table. Pass the gravy, please!
Jackie Garvin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, Judy. Bless your uncle’s heart for his ingenious way of providing “mule power” for his cane press!
Janice Marra says
Jackie, I love this site.What a Great job!I can’t wait to share it with my family.Reading the story takes me back to the time when I too sat at that same table with Aunt Virginia,Uncle Payton,and my Grandparents.All of them are gone now but for a moment you brought them back.I remember that great taste of the sugar and Oh boy the biscuits.I use to suck the sugar out of the stick sitting by the fire in Aunt Bertha’s house.Thanks for the memory!
Jackie Garvin says
Janice,
Thank you for your kind heart-warming comments. We do have some precious family memories to share. We are blessed with strong family bonds.
Robert Daniels says
Great job Jackie, I know your Dad is smiling along with your Mom and grandparents!
Jackie Garvin says
Robert,
Thank you so much for your comments and being such a strong family link yourself.
Dottie Sue says
Jackie, this is a great first blog and brings back so many memories especially of sugar cane syrup and biscuits. When I was growing up we would have left over biscuits and syrup as a mid-morning snack. We poked a hole in the side of the biscuit with our finger, poured it full of cane syrup then ran to the porch (and sat on the edge) to eat it. Thank you for this forgotten memory. Love you.
Jackie Garvin says
Dottie,
I have eaten many syrup filled biscuits and so have my children. This will be a treat we will share with grandchildren as soon as they are old enough to be able to hold on to the filled biscuit. After they conquer that skill, then comes the orange with the hole cut in the top made for sucking the juice straight from the fruit. Thank you for your sweet, sweet remarks.
Amy Wren says
I love cane syrup and I loved that cake! We took it on our picnic today and shared it with our friends!
Jackie Garvin says
The cake travels well. I used up all my cane syrup. If someone would get me some more, I would make them another cake.
Pete Hatcher says
Jackie,
I remember that mule-driven cane press in Geneva too — although I haven’t thought about it in 50 years. And I recall my Dad mashing butter into that thick cane syrup with a fork, and then dipping with my mom’s biscuits. Now I’m hungry!
P. Hatcher
San Francisco
Jackie Garvin says
Pete,
You should try the Cane Syrup Cake that I included in that post. It’s mighty good! Or just make you some syrup and biscuits. You may not be able to find another person in San Francisco who has even heard of cane syrup let along trying to actually find the syrup.
Brittany Grace says
Your family reminds me of my family!
I can’t wait to make this, I will tell you how my cake turns out.
Thanks so much!
Jackie Garvin says
Brittany,
I hope you enjoy the cake. Love your blog!
Billie says
Well, girl, you did it and your first blog out of the starting gate is great. As a little girl, my uncle had a cane press and it was an annual thing to us to do exactly what you did: watch that press and chew on cane stalks. My mother made “cat head” biscuits (biscuits as big as cats’ heads) and I loved breakfasts at our cabin in the woods. At the same general time of the year was when they slaughtered their pigs and made some of the best homemade sausage I know I will ever eat.
Thank you so much for sharing through your blog and bringing back some great memories…already looking for the next post!!!!
And good luck with Apron Strings!
Jackie Garvin says
Billie,
You are such dear sweet friend. Thank you for sharing your story. I know cathead biscuits very well. They got their name partially from the size but also because of the shape. The biscuits were shaped by hand and not rolled, therefore, the texture was uneven and the biscuits would have little crevices that would mimic the shape of a cathead. Girl, I am constantly looking for a local person who smokes their own meats. I’m talking about in a SMOKEHOUSE not on of those commercial smokers that have multiple shelfs and look like refrigerators. They can produce a good product, the smokehouse produces a “slap yo’ mama” excellent product. I’m not giving up. When I find it, you make the biscuits and I will provide the sausage and syrup.
Gail Davis says
Jackie, Simply love your blog! Although we didn’t have a press, we had cane syrup every morning at our breakfast table. (If I am not mistaken, my uncle who lives in Saraland still uses his cane press.) Just reading all the entries here brings back so many memories. Keep it up!!
Jackie Garvin says
Thank you so much, Gail. Your comments mean a lot to me. I just published my next post called “A Chicken in Every Pot”. Hope you get a chance to read that one, too!
Mona Stout says
I have a feeling that after each post on this blog I’m going to want to lick the spoon. Love it, Jackie. Can’t wait for more.
Jackie Garvin says
Mona,
You have such a sweet spirit. I cherish our virtual friendship. Can’t thank you enough for the support. You’re better than a girdle! 🙂
Ellen Helms says
Jackie
I was Sam’s cousin Julians wife. Your blog has brought back lots of wonderful memories to me. We were married for 50 years and nearly every day of his life I cooked him those cathead biscuits and he ate them with Cane Patch syrup(which was the nearest to the homemade cane syrup we could find). If I was available to cook three meals a day then that’s how often he had them. I also remember the cane syrup making day, the only difference in ours was they used a evaporator pan insted of the kettle. Would love to stay in touch with you. I am already friends with Amy on FB.
Jackie Garvin says
Ellen,
I’m so glad you visited “Syrup and Biscuits”. Writing about precious memories is near and dear to my heart. I will send you a friend request through FB. I’m friends with Tina and keep up with the Andalusia family through her.
Danny Taylor says
Jackie, I truly knew you were capable of this great blog and find it as interesting and memory laden as all of our conversations are which makes it an instant hit with me. Thanks for taking the time to make our lives more fun.
I do seem to remember that the cane syrup cake was more of a seasonal cake, much like Lane, and Fruit cake…a fall type cake but could be wrong..
The biscuit and syrup however was a daily offering and was a mainstay of the Phillips men as grand daddy, uncle Payton and Teddy all had the biscuit and syrup, syrup with the home churned butter mixed in every morning…grand daddy all most always had a couple of pork chops with his, red eye gravy and eggs from the hen house out back. Sweet summer rain!!
Meals were simpler then and were most often prepared with ingredients home grown or at least from someone you knew…thanks for bringing that back to light! Good luck and continued success!
Jackie Garvin says
Danny,
I’m so glad you enjoyed the blog. With great family memories and lots of current food opportunities, I have lots to write about. Thank you for your heart warming words.
Kurt Halls says
Jackie,
This is just a great read, and the food looks even better !
Being a cook with a West Indian tradtion I so can appreciate the stories and granny cooking and all the smells !
Continue doing great work and cook on !
Jackie Garvin says
Kurt,
I’ve got many, many more stories in my back pocket!
Julie Evans says
So glad you have started this blog! I am loving the stories and recipes. Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s house (we were lucky enough to live next door) were a weekly ritual. Lots of Lebanese food, cousins and memories. So glad you are continuing the traditions with your own family!
Jackie Garvin says
Julie,
I deeply appreciate your comments and your readership. Food is part of life and life has stories. I intend to tell those stories to the best of my abilities. It makes me happy and I hope that happiness extends to my readers.
Ann (Johnson) Collins says
Gosh this brings back so many memories..I fondly remember watching the mules grinding the cane..mother would always get a bottle of cane juice to drink,while my dad,and i would chew the cane..thanks for the memories!!
Jackie Garvin says
Ann,
So glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for letting me know I helped you relive some beautiful times. That’s what Syrup and Biscuits is all about!
tom gilbert says
can you purchase the syrup and have it shipped
Jackie Garvin says
Tom,
I purchase Steen’s Cane Syrup online and have it shipped. I’ve found cane syrup that’s produced locally but I think Steen’s is superior. 🙂
Vickie says
Loved stumbling on to your blog. I grew up on cane syrup. It’s my husband favorite syrup still. I agree with Tom, Steen’s is the best. It’s a family run business for years, made in Louisiana. It is widely available, I could even purchase while living in China. Today I’m baking syrup cake for workers here in Malaysia.
Jackie Garvin says
Vickie,
This is the first blog post I did. While my writing and photography have improved, my heart’s still the same.
Steens is the only cane syrup I buy. I order it online. Enjoy the syrup cake!
Thanks so much for reading. 🙂
Linda Duff Niemeir says
Judy Burnham, how interesting that your father/law used a lwn mower to power his sugar cane mill! My mother grew up in the countryside of North Louisiana and helped Grandpa work a surgar cane mill as a teen (about 1939). She has painted an oil painting from memory, depicting Grandpa and herself working in the mill. It is a family treasure. Mama is now 87 yrs. old.
Jackie Garvin says
How wonderful! God bless your Mama.
Carolyn Vick says
I have long been searching for a taste of my growing up years in MS. I am now 70 but so remember my grandfather stirring butter into syrup and then putting it on his biscuit. We called it molasses and it came in silver cans. Every molasses item I have tried is not the syrup of my childhood. What I have tried seems to be harsh and dark tasting. What I remember is a succulent bit of heaven. My immediate family moved away and for many years we came back to visit our grandparents. We always brought back shrimp on ice, pecans gathered from the trees in their yard, and of course, our can of molasses. Everyone is gone now but I long for a taste of that syrup. My grandfather grew some cane but he did not process it (I think his friends did) and he would cut pieces for us to suck and chew. I have tried something from Steen’s (don’t remember exactly one it was), but it sure was not the syrup of my childhood. I always thought molasses was molasses until I tried to find my memory molasses. Can you help me figure out what I had? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.
Jackie Garvin says
Carolyn,
Steen’s sells cane syrup which is different than molasses. There are two kinds of molasses: sorghum and blackstrap. I keep sorghum molasses in my pantry and it’s close in flavor to cane syrup. It’s not exactly the same. Here’s a link to an article that might help you: http://grandmaspantryva.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/September-Scoop09.pdf