Gnaw Bone Sorghum Mill - Nashville, IN

Posted By Michael Stern on December 9, 2007 8:50 PM

Among the many attractions of scenic Brown County, Indiana, are its sugar cane fields. In the fall, when the cane is harvested, Pat and Bill Watkins of the Gnaw Bone Sorghum Mill use a horse-powered wheel-press to transform it into sorghum molasses. At their Sorghum Mill, you can buy bottles of this good molasses as well as all kinds of put-up jellies, jams and preserves. We are especially fond of the apple butter and pear butter, so well suited for spreading on warm morning toast.

Speaking of toast, that's the main reason we like to stop here while traveling along Highway 46 in the fall. The Watkins bake bread, and oh, what good bread it is: its dough slightly sweetened with their sorghum, it is a rolled loaf laced with cinnamon-sugar or cinnamon and apples or apples and nuts. If you stop by early in the morning, you'll smell it baking. Before noon, loaves are available fresh from the oven. It would probably be possible to slice one and put the slice on a plate; our modus operandi is to tear it into shreds and eat it as we drive.

A roadside stand rather than a restaurant, the Sorghum Mill offers much autumn produce for sale, decorative as well as edible, including pumpkins, Indian corn, and bales of hay.

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Posted By Cindy Miller on May 24, 2010 7:14 PM

One of the great secrets of Gnaw Bone Sorghum Mill is persimmon. Only available "while it lasts," persimmon pudding, preserves, and even frozen persimmon pulp can be purchased at the Mill. Similar to plum pudding, with a taste that made us guess "spice cake?" "licorice?" "pumpkin?" "flowers?" the persimmon pudding is a treat not to be missed, so be sure to look for a sign on the fridge or ask! For other alternatives to the amazing baked apple butter, try cherry or pear butter, too! All are made with the same simple ingredients as their preserves, but without the pectin. Lots of sugar-free varieties are available, as well.

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Persimmon Pudding

Apple butter

Cherry Butter

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Posted By Shelley Kresan on March 14, 2008 2:17 PM

Get your apple butter here. Actually, get your apple, cherry, pumpkin, pear, and peach butters here. They're half the price of most places in Nashville and they taste better. I like the stuff so much that I shipped a case home to Southern California.

They are so nice here. I kept bringing up more jars as the lady working there (possibly the owner) rang me up; she accidently overcharged me in the confusion. She had the whole staff on the lookout for me to refund the few dollars. When I came back in (and come back you will!) they immediately gave me the money, which I in turn put back into their hands to buy more goodies.

There is not a more perfect stop on a fall day.

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