What Is the Difference Between Molasses & Sorghum?

What Is the Difference Between Molasses & Sorghum?
Written By
Anna Thurman
Anna Thurman
Published: Sep 15, 2010
Updated: Nov 20, 2021
1 minute read

Origin

Sugar cane field.

Molasses syrup is made from sugar cane and is essentially uncrystalized sugar. Sorghum is made of juice derived from the sweet sorghum cane stalk, a crop native to Africa.

Processing

Boiling pot.

To make molasses, sugar cane is crushed and the juice is extracted and boiled down into a syrup. This syrup is boiled again with the addition of milk and an alkaline solution. The mixture is left to sit for two days until it begins to granulate, at which point the syrup is drained out, packaged and sold as molasses. To make sorghum, the juice is squeezed or pressed out from the sweet sorghum cane stalk and boiled down into syrup form. It is not as heavily processed as molasses.

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Other Differences

Amber color sorghum on a spoon.

During processing, molasses loses some of its sweetness. Sorghum has a sweeter taste because none of the sugar is removed when it is made. Molasses is also much darker than sorghum, which is a light amber shade.

Photo Credits

Paul Brighton/iStock/Getty Images

Paul Brighton/iStock/Getty Images

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Image Source White/Image Source/Getty Images

Anna Thurman

Anna Thurman began her freelance writing career in 2009, writing for eHow. She attended Appalachian Technical College, where she studied business English.

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