There are many problems involved in making high quality sorgo sirup. The first step toward industrial development, as well as toward a better homemade sirup, is a more complete knowledge of the chemical composition of the juice and sirup. On the whole, the literature indicates that earlier investigators made little attempt to correlate juice composition and sirup quality.
Sorgo production in the United States is distributed more widely than the production of sugar cane or sugar beets. Sorgo is easy to cultivate. The adaptability of the sorgo crop to many soils and climatic conditions is noteworthy (9).
Some sorgo is grown for sirup in thirty-five states, but it is grown most extensively in the southeastern states. Six states, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, sometimes called the sorgo sirup belt, produce about 50 percent of the total amount of sorgo sirup. Mississippi and Alabama have been the largest producers for many years (24).
The production of sweet sorgo for sirup in Tennessee is not very extensive as compared to that of some of the more common crops, but it is an important source of income on some farms and in some areas of the State. Six counties, Benton, Warren, Fayette, Tipton, Shelby, and DeKalb, produced approximately 44 percent of the State production in 1959 (16). Benton County reported 14 percent of the total acres of sorgo grown in the State in 1959 and 23 percent of the total production. Warren County is the second largest producer in Tennessee.
No information is available pertaining to the amount of consumer demand for sorgo sirup. However, consumers prefer high quality sirup, and in order to fulfill this requirement, it is necessary to eliminate the practices contributing to the production of inferior sirup.
Early research workers reported that many factors could influence sirup quality. The chemical composition of the juice is considered to be the most influential factor affecting quality of sirup. The relationship between various constituents in the juice and the finished sirup has been most neglected and is still little understood. With this factor in mind, the objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the presence of certain chemical constituents of the juice; (2) to determine the concentration of these constituents in different internodes and sections; (3) to determine chemical composition of sorgo sirups and (4) to relate the chemical composition of the juice to the composition and quality of the sirup
