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Great Americans: The Guenthers of Muddy Pond

After making sorghum syrup since the mid-1960s with others in the community, John and Emma Guenther started the family operation in the early 1980s. Three of their sons; Mark and wife Sherry, Pete and wife Doreen, and Eddie and wife Ruth run the mill now. John Guenther passed away December 22, 2018. Several of the grandchildren help at the mill, firing the boiler, bringing wood down from the pile, filling containers and labeling jars.

Muddy Pond Sorghum is a manufacturer and seller of 100% pure sorghum syrup. We also offer pure honey, and sorghum barbecue sauce, all made by the Guenther family. Our mill is located midway between Nashville and Knoxville in the hills of Tennessee. Come visit us during September and October and watch us make sorghum syrup. The sorghum mill is in operation beginning the Saturday before Labor Day, on Labor Day, and then we skip the next day, which is Tuesday. After that, we make sorghum every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday during September and October.

Git some at Pure Sorghum Syrup | Muddy Pond Sorghum, LLC

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • BillH November 8, 2020, 9:25 AM

    My paternal grandparents used sorghum because their farm would grow it, they could have it processed on shares at a nearby mill, and they could not afford to buy sugar, or much of anything else for that matter. I hated the stuff when I was a kid. Never encountered it in later life.

  • Bill November 8, 2020, 10:45 AM

    I bought some to use as well as to gift; thank you for sharing.

  • James ONeil November 8, 2020, 11:37 AM

    I’m impressed. No sorghum up here atop the world but I think I’ll tap some of my birch come spring.

  • Mike Guenther November 8, 2020, 2:36 PM

    Hmmm…wonder if they are any relation.

  • Dan Patterson November 9, 2020, 4:43 AM

    Molasses was a staple in my dad’s Depression Era childhood home and he transferred that appetite to his kids. Visits to grandma’s house in north Georgia were spiced with the running of the cane mill in season or biscuits from the oven with butter and molasses.
    Dad would often ask momma if there were more biscuits because he “couldn’t get his bread and ‘lasses to come out even”.

  • Dan Watson November 9, 2020, 7:34 AM

    I ordered a bottle. My preference is honey or agave but I’m game to try something new. And seeing Mark working in the mill and farm reminds me of my dad and uncles. Men who got the job done. No whining, no sniveling. Just determination and intelligence.

  • James Haskell November 9, 2020, 11:35 AM

    My dad taught us how to eat sorghum syrup the country way.
    Pour syrup on a plate, stir in a couple pats of butter until it’s mixed together.
    Drag a piece of sliced bread thru it and eat.
    Kinda like a waffle without the middle man.
    It’s good that way except sorghum is kind of sharper than maple syrup.

  • Cletus Socrates November 13, 2020, 6:56 PM

    Grandparents and uncles were from South Georgia / FL Panhandle. Grew sugar cane off and on. Uncle Clinton (in FL Panhandle) grew Sugar Cane and ran it through a mule powered squeezer, took the squeezins, boiled it down and bottled a fine tasting Cane Syrup. Especially good on cornbread.