| Besides making cane syrup, Bro. Mark
is a gifted craftsman who makes ands designs
furniture. Some examples of his fine work can be
seen on his webpage at: www.brothermark.com
He also grinds a little corn with a small
gristmill which I have shown at: Mark's gristmill
(Ken Christison, Dec, 01) |
|
| In the first part of May and July, I give all
my cane a generous amount of cottonseed meal, during the
first part of September I put the potash to it like I was
trying to burn it up and then plenty of water. |
  
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| After I strip, chop and top the cane, I wash
each stalk with a cloth and water and place it on a rack
to get ready to grind it. Right, grinding the cane with a
Chattanooga #14 mill. |
  
|
| We have gone from cooking with a wood fire to
cooking with gas as most have. From this point it is
skim, skim, skim. On my kettle I have a 5" band
around the outside lip that is drawn tight with 1/4"
bolts and then a 1" high removable ring for the
inside. Above left, Ricky Griffis and Joe Feagle are
filling the kettle. Center, the band around the outside,
and left, the trough for the skimmings |
  
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| Above left, Ricky Griffis and myself
skimming. Center, Ricky's wife Steffanie, and right Ricky
and his two daughters, all trying their hand at skimming |
  
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| When the cooking gets to the point that it is
almost ready to raise up, I put burlap all around between
the two bands and then when it cooks up I let it filter
through the burlap. After it has filtered through for a
while, I turn the fire down just enough to let the syrup
go back down into the kettle alittle, I then take the
burlap bags out and wash them out real good, wring them
out real good and put them back around inside the rings
and bring the syrup back up for another filtering. I
might do this 4 or 5 times, gettin the syrup extra clean.
Above right, myself and Ricky wiping and skimming. |
  
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| As you can see from the pictures I use a
corning ware coffee pot to check my density in. When it
gets to 33 1/2 I kill the fire and dip it out with a
stainless steel pot on a handle. |
  
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| I place it in a stainless steel keg and let
it sit, I generally do my cookings on a Saturday so folks
have an opportunity to come and I let it sit 'till Monday
morning before I bottle it. It usually comes out clear as
honey. Bro.
Mark Webb |
