Making Syrup at Longfellow-Evangeline State Historical Site

By Cynthia LeJeune Nobles

Back in the 1960s, many Louisiana school “lunchroom ladies” hand made their rolls, and the yeasty, pillowy bread was usually served with dark cane syrup. The bread itself tasted heavenly. But it was downright irresistible when used to mop up a pool of syrup. 

Before and through the Great Depression, much of our rural population relied on homemade syrup as their main form of sweetener. Throughout the year they cared for their own small plots of cane.

Right before the first frost they cut the cane stalks, crushed them, and boiled down the juice in their own backyard syrup houses. 

Most home-type syrup houses are gone, as well as our old-line commercial producers. But we still have Norris Syrup Company in north Louisiana, which has been selling regionally since 1924. And, of course, our state has the only large national cane syrup producer left, our much-loved brand Steen’s, which has been going strong since 1910. 

Fortunately, the back-to-the-farm movement that started back in the 1980s just keeps growing. And this love of all things local is spurring a home-pressed syrup market. Across the American South and in Louisiana, several farmers are growing small plots of cane and making syrup, and they’re doing so following traditional syrup-making methods. 

To learn how to make the sweet stuff, I traveled to St. Martinville’s historic Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site, where, on a crisp November morning, there was a syrup-making demonstration.

A few volunteers and staff members, such as Curator Philip Frey, were dressed in garb appropriate to the mid-1800s, when the parkland was privately owned and operated as Olivier Plantation.

Jesuit priests introduced sugarcane into south Louisiana in 1751. “In the antebellum era,” said Frey, “Olivier Plantation planted 250 acres of sugarcane. Some 25-30 slaves tended the plantation’s fields, which was backbreaking work.” Slaves worked constantly, making rows and weeding. “Then came la roulaison, grinding season. During harvest time, sugar and syrup-making could go on around the clock.”  

Although it takes time and finesse, the syrup-making process is relatively simple: boil the cane juice, constantly skim it, and, when it has evaporated into the proper thickness, pour it into jars.

For our demo, volunteer Tommy Guidry tromped into a small nearby patch of ribbon cane and slashed down a few stalks. Blue Ribbon, commonly known as ribbon cane, gets its name from banding, the “ribbons” on its dark maroon central stalk. 

“Blue Ribbon is probably the type of cane that was grown on most Louisiana sugar plantations in the 1800s,” said Guidry. “It originally came here from the Caribbean. For our little crop, we get seed cane from LSU.” 

Unlike tall modern cane varieties, ribbon cane only grows 6-8 feet tall. When higher sucrose and more disease-resistant cane varieties were developed in the early twentieth century, ribbon cane fell out of use commercially. But the super-juicy variety is still grown on small farms. 

Guidry took his freshly cut stalks, sliced them into 3-foot lengths, and ground them through a small, modern hand-cranked press about the size of a bread box. That’s quite a difference from the methods used during antebellum sugar production, when cane grinding was done by slowly circling oxen, horses, or mules that turned the gears that powered the huge metal rollers that ground mountains of cane. 

“It takes 7 or 8 healthy stalks of ribbon cane to make 1 gallon of juice,” Guidry said. He poured his freshly pressed juice into a 10-gallon cast iron pot set over a propane burner. “And it takes 7 or 8 gallons of juice to make 1 gallon of syrup.” 

Boiling down cane juice into syrup is the step before creating sugar. To make sugar in the nineteenth century, hardwood logs would have burned under three to five large sugar kettles arranged in descending size, in a “kettle train.” The largest kettle, the grande, held up to 500 gallons, and the smallest, the batterie, 70-100 gallons. As syrup boiled down and condensed in the larger kettles, it would have been transferred into smaller and then smaller kettles, which made the condensing process more efficient. It was in the final, smallest kettle that a Master Sugar Maker, almost always a skilled slave, “struck” the syrup, tested for crystallization, and then sent it on to coolers, where it evaporated into raw granulated sugar. 

To make his syrup, Guidry let the cane juice bubble gently for a few hours. He kept the temperature low to prevent scorching along the sides of the pot, which could produce burned bits. He occasionally stirred the bubbling juice and regularly skimmed off the froth.

"I’ll get out about 90 percent of the impurities by skimming,” he said. As the liquid evaporated and slowly thickened, the grayish brown liquid turned mahogany. “And I don’t strain my syrup. That’s what gives it its unique taste.”

​“Unique” is an understatement. I’d call the syrup Guidry made more like nectar. It was dark and full-flavored, and refreshingly less sweet than today’s commercial syrups. Since it wasn’t made with chemicals, it was clean-tasting, and it had only the slightest hint of molasses. 

​I left St. Martinville with a nice stash of freshly made syrup. And that made me want to rush home and bake rolls.
 
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Do you have a Louisiana agriculture story or a recipe you’d like to share? Contact me at [email protected]
 
Cynthia Nobles is the cookbook editor for LSU Press and the author/co-author of several historical cookbooks, including A Confederacy of Dunces Cookbook, The Delta Queen Cookbook, and The Fonville Winans Cookbook.
 
 
For all these recipes, Steen’s brand cane syrup works great. 
            
 
Cane Syrup-Glazed Pork Loin
Makes 6-8 servings
 
3 to 4-pound boneless pork loin roast, trimmed of fat
Creole seasoning
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Creole mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ cup pure cane syrup, divided 
7-8 bacon slices 
 
1. Remove pork from refrigerator 1-2 hours ahead of time. When ready to cook, line a roasting pan with foil and coat a roasting rack with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle pork with Creole seasoning.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire. Spread the sugar paste all over the pork. Wrap the pork with bacon slices. If necessary, secure with toothpicks. Drizzle ¼ cane cup syrup over the bacon. 

3. Set the rack over the foil-lined roasting pan and place the roast in the center of the rack. Cover with foil and bake 1 hour. Raise oven temperature to 375°. Remove foil from roast and spoon the drippings over the bacon. Cover again and bake another 15 minutes. 

4. Remove foil, baste again, and drizzle on remaining ¼ cup syrup. Bake until the center registers 140°F and the bacon is crisp, about 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and rest 10 minutes. Pour the pan sauce into a bowl and serve alongside the slices of meat.
 
 
Louisiana Gâteau de Sirop (Louisiana Cane Syrup Cake) with Cane Syrup Butter
Makes 12 servings (Adapted from a recipe by Nancy Tregre Wilson of Hahnville)
 
Nancy tells us that where she lives, on Louisiana’s German Coast in southeast Louisiana, sugar cane fields line the Great River Road that parallels the Mississippi River. When she was growing up there was never a shortage of sugar or cane syrup in any home in the region. Her dad used to tell her that when he was a child, supper was sometimes just bread, milk, and syrup.  
 
1 cup sugar
2½ sticks butter, at room temperature, divided
3 large eggs
1¾ cups pure cane syrup, plus 2 tablespoons
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
1 cup whole milk
⅓ cup chopped, toasted pecans 
 
 
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9x13-inch pan or a Bundt cake pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and 1½ sticks butter, about 3 minutes on medium mixer speed. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in 1¾ cups syrup.

3. Sift together flour, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Batter should look satiny. Pour and spread into prepared pan. Bake until cake springs back when lightly touched, about 1 hour. 

4. While cake is cooling, make the Cane Syrup Butter by melting the remaining stick of butter and mixing it with the remaining 2 tablespoons cane syrup and the pecans. Spread over warm cake. Allow cake to cool completely and serve. 
 
 
Mrs. Gaston Cart’s Syrup Pie
Makes 24 hand pies, or 1 (10-inch) pie 
 
Sweet crust syrup pies are a specialty of my hometown, Iota. They are usually made as hand pies, but some bakers make them like regular pies. This recipe version is an old one. It is courtesy of Florence Miller of Iota, who got the recipe from the Gaston and Clarise Cart family of Iota.
 
Filling
1 quart cane syrup
2 cups water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon juice
 
Sweet Dough Crust
4 cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
1. Combine all filling ingredients in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring to a boil. Continue stirring and cook until very thick, about 5 more minutes. Cool completely, without a cover.

2. While filling is cooling, make crust. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Work shortening into flour mixture with your fingers. Stir in milk and vanilla and form a large ball. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap, and chill at least 30 minutes. 

3. To make hand pies: Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment. On a heavily floured sheet of wax paper, roll one of the dough balls out to ¼ inch thick. Cut out 5-inch circles and place 1 heaping tablespoon syrup filling in the center of each circle. (Don’t let the filling get too close to the circles’ edges.) Fold the dough over to make a semi-circle, press edges gently with your fingers, and crimp the edges with the floured tines of a fork. Cut 3 small slits in the top of each. Repeat with remaining dough. Refrigerate assembled pies that are waiting to go in the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

4. To make a whole pie: Preheat your oven to 375°F. Transfer one half of chilled dough to a hard floured surface. Roll it out to fit a 10-inch pie pan and line the pan with the dough. Spread the prepared filling in the crust. Roll out the remaining dough half and fit it on top of the pie. (If you’re not doing a lattice, be sure to cut slits in the top dough.) Bake until deep golden brown, 45-55 minutes. Cool thoroughly before serving.
 
 
Louisiana Cracker Jack
Makes 3 quarts
 
The taste of this sweet, crunchy treat is much more flavorful than what you buy in the box.
 
3 quarts popped corn
1½ cups toasted, shelled peanuts
1½ cups pecan halves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
1½ cups light brown sugar
1¼ cups pure cane syrup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon baking soda
 
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a sheet pan or large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Combine popped corn, peanuts, and pecans in a large bowl, and set aside.

2. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until butter just starts to turn tan. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, cane syrup, vinegar, and salt. Return to heat, bring to a boil, and cook, without stirring, over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 250°F, about 5 minutes.

3. Remove pot from heat, and stir in vanilla and baking soda. Pour syrup over popcorn and nuts, and stir until syrup is evenly distributed. (Be careful: syrup is extremely hot.) Spread popcorn on sheet pan and bake 15 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and stir well, making sure to scrape up and blend in any accumulated syrup. Spread popcorn evenly in pan again, and bake 15 more minutes. Remove from oven, stir well, and allow to cool. Break into pieces. Store tightly covered at room temperature up to 2 weeks.
 
 
Lunchroom Lady Rolls
Makes 16 large rolls
 
These fluffy rolls are the perfect accompaniment to cane syrup. (If you don’t have a stand mixer, mix everything by hand and knead 10 minutes. If you make half the recipe, bake in an 11x7-inch pan.)
 
2 cups whole milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, divided, plus additional for coating plan
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons iodized salt
2 packages (4½ teaspoons) yeast
¼ cup lukewarm water
5-6 cups sifted bread flour
 
1. In a small saucepan, bring milk to a boil. Remove from heat and add 4 tablespoons butter, sugar, and salt. Cool to lukewarm.

2. Soften yeast in the lukewarm water and add to milk mixture. In bowl of a standing mixer, combine milk mixture and 5 cups flour. With dough hook attachment, beat on low speed and add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should come clean from sides of bowl but yet be soft. Raise mixer head to upright position and put a sheet of greased plastic wrap directly on top of dough. Let rest 10 minutes. 

3. Remove plastic wrap and knead dough on medium speed 8 minutes. Put greased plastic wrap directly on top of dough and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours.

4. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter and set aside. Turn dough onto a floured board and knead until surface is smooth. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Roll each portion into a ball, brush each ball with melted butter, and place in prepared pan. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled in bulk, 30-40 minutes.

5. About 10 minutes before rolls have finished rising, preheat oven to 375°F. Brush rolls with remaining melted butter and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until dark golden brown. This is the hard part: Let sit at least 10 minutes before serving.