Best place to eat in Starkville, Mississippi

During this semester at MSU I found there are several great places to eat and a few that were not to great. The best place I found to eat was at Wendy's. They have improved their burgers and fries so well that once you have a Wendy's burger no other will do. Another place I found good to eat was Taco Bell. The Taco Bell in Starkville is one of the best Taco Bells I have ever ate at. Their tacos are fresh and they have great service. The worst place I found to eat in Starkville was the McDonalds which has horrible service and unfriendly workers plus there has been constant construction on the building all semester. However the food is good for it be a fast food restaurant. I wish Starkville would open a Outback restaurant so I could get a blooming onion which is great stuff.

Another Syrup Mill

On November the 26 I went to another syrup cooking in the community of Rocky. It was their first year to cook at this location. They had some difficulty like I did my first year but ran off some good syrup. The cook was a older gentleman Mr Scott who has been cooking syrup for 60 years. He did things different than me by throwing syrup from baffle to baffle to keep the syrup from cooking to quick.

Cooking Cane in Needham Al.

  On November the 19 I went to Needham Alabama and watch some folks cook syrup. They cooked different than what I am used to. The first difference was that they ran syrup off of the fire end instead of the chimney end. Also they were cooking with propane gas something I think cost to much money. However with gas you are able to keep the fire under the pan at a constant heat.

Preperation for next year

The work of growing sugar cane never ends. It is a year round processes. Last weekend we burned off our cane patches from the leaves and tops we stripped off of the cane during harvesting. We then covered the cut off stuble with plenty of soil for the up coming winter to protect from frost bite. Next spring we will uncover the stuble and sprouts will begin to sprout from the stuble. Also, we have removed our syrup pan to repostion the soil that forms the draw for the fire under the pan. More work will come during the winter such as cutting wood.

Syrup Cooking 2011

This year we did not run off as much syrup as we had hoped. We had trouble to say the least however we did run off around 58 quarts. The root of out trouble was the draw on our fire under the syrup pan. We had an extremely hot fire under the pan however the fire was shooting out the top of the chimney and was not heating the pan to cooking heat. The syrup would cook on the bottom of the pan but would not heat hot enough to cook the top. Therefore, I had to pull syrup only off of the bottom of the pan with the stoper. We did the best we could and had some good syrup in the end but it sold quickly. Hope to work on it this winter and fix our problem. Also, I would like to thank family and friends who showed up to work thoughout the year and made this year as sucessful as possible.

Crop Update

Good sugar cane crop this year. This is about a quarter of the cane we have this year. Looks to be a good crop and about two days worth of cooking.

Happy Birthday Uncle Elwin

Happy 80th Birthday Uncle Elwin!!

Varieties of Cane We Grow



4852 hybrid cane

Chewing Cane



White Cane







These are some of the varieties of cane we grow. On the top left hand side is a type of sugar cane that my uncle bought several years ago from an experimental station in in Poplaville, Mississippi. It is referred to as 4852 hybrid cane. This cane is somewhat drought resistant and tends to grow better than other cane varieties in drought conditions. Also, this type of cane tends to make good syrup. The picture on the top right is the cane that my great grandpa used to grow that I talked about in a recent post. This cane tends to grow average during droughts and makes a prettier syrup than the 4852 cane. The other cane on the lower left is a type of chewing cane that is soft and easy to chew. This cane will not make syrup.

History of the Family Cooking Syrup

Our family has been cooking syrup for three generations. My great grandpa cooked syrup years ago. I still have some of the same cane he used to cook with through replanting of the cane over the years. The cane however was somewhat lost until my great uncle Elwin decided to start cooking syrup in the 1980s. He was then given the cane great grandpa had used by some of our relatives who grew cane and had received some seed cane from great granddaddy before he quit growing it. He cooked until about two years ago when I started to cook some. It has always been a family tradition in which the whole family helps with the work and uncle Elwin still is a huge help in the process and is always there for advice and moral support. I hope to keep the tradition alive as long as I can with the help of the family because without that it won't work.

Cane is Stripped

Most of the cane is stripped of it leaves and the process of cutting the tops out is about to start. Some of the cane is extremely tall this year. Will update on cutting the tops out next week. Its not long until we will make syrup sometime in November.

Importance of Wood Involved in the Cooking Process

Over the years people have used different types of wood to fuel the fire used to heat the syrup pan, in another post we will explain the different types of syrup pans. Years ago most people would use lighter knot pine. This type of wood would keep the fire hot and burned easily and slowly. However, lighter knot makes it hard to adjust the heat of the fire and has became hard to find and in some areas. Thats why now most people use regular pine to fuel the fire. One of the main reasons pine is a popular fuel for syrup making is because of its abundant supply. Also, the fire temperature can be regulated better with pine. One disadvantage is that pine burns quickly. Most any wood will work for a source of heat. However, it is extremely important for the wood to be dry. If the wood is not dry the wood will not burn properly and heat will not be distributed evenly.

Video by The Shell Oil Company on Sugar Cane

Great Video on Sugar Cane as a biofuel by the Shell company.

Drought vs. Excessive Rain

This year we had a mixed year of both drought conditions and excessive rain on the cane. Most stalks this year range from 5 1/2 feet tall to 6 feet tall jointed. Some years we have had such little rain that the stalks would be less than 3 feet tall during droughts and some years the cane will grow well over 6 feet tall. However, you want to have cane about the height ours is this year because taller cane usually has more water than sugar content in the juice, which takes longer to cook into syrup and if the cane is to short you will not have enough juice to have a productive year.

Update on Crop

Over the weekend I walked though the cane patch to see when I can start stripping the cane and it looks like I can start this weekend.

Update on Cane

The cane has recieved alot of rain this weekend due to the tropical storm Lee. Also several stalks have been blown over but it was just a few stalks.