Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Tony Van Glad of Blenheim Hill Sorghum, currently one of New York State’s only sorghum syrup producers. When I first started American Sorghum, I came across and article about Tony and shared an excerpt: http://americansorghum.com/schoharie-county-farmer-grows-sorghum-as-source-for-syrup/
For me, it was proof that sweet sorghum can thrive in New York State and beyond and I used this reference often, especially when question about growing sorghum up here in the “North Country.”
Now, back to my visit. Tony was great, sharing invaluable information about his experience with sorghum, from planting to cultivation and processing. He tried a number of strains and found the one that worked best here in New York, something that would have taking me years to find out the hard way.
Tony is a maple farmer and his expertise in the field makes him perfect for making sorghum syrup with his evaporator set up and making a wonderful syrup at that. I tasted it and it is wonderful! Here’s a shot I took of his evaporator:
Tony is also quite the engineer and as I knew going in, sorghum machinery either doesn’t exist or it’s over 100 years old. So, Tony designed and built his own juice extractors, cane topper, leaf chopper and more. I was more than impressed and immediately offered him a direct involvement with American Sorghum, how could I not?
Sorghum syrup is still available at Blenheim Hill Sorghum. Here’s a price list:
6 oz Trial Bottle: $4
12 oz Squeeze Bottle $6
24 oz Squeeze Bottle $10
Glass Jar 9 oz $5.50
Plastic Jar 56 oz $18
Gallon Size $37
Email: blenheimhillsorghum@yahoo.com or call 1-866-33-syrup (7-9787)
You can also fill out our contact form for more information about sorghum syrup.