Bourbon Barrel Foods is Bringing Sorghum Back

Louisville based food industry startup Bourbon Barrel Foods is introducing a new line or sorghum products. The product line includes a classic Sweet Sorghum as well as two specialty flavors: Blueberry and Bourbon Vanilla. This expansion into the natural sweetener market build upon the company’s core product line of savory sauces (soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce) as well as smoked salt, pepper and paprika.

Sorghum has been out of favor as a sweetener for many years but Bourbon Barrel Foods is betting on a resurgence in sorghum’s popularity as the trend of eating more natural, whole foods and less processed foods (like high fructose corn syrup) grows.

“For our grandparents, especially in the South, sorghum was used every day. But then sorghum skipped a generation,” says Matt Jamie, president of Bourbon Barrel Foods. “When I talk about sorghum to people they invariably say, ‘my grandparents used that on everything, and I haven’t had it in years.’ It’s making a comeback though, and many chefs and home cooks are enamored with its distinctive taste and healthful properties.

This might be one of the first old-is-new again product lines that we can thank Michael Pollan and his contemporaries for. Pollan’s books The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food both strongly encourage eating whole, natural foods and getting away from overly processed foods. It’s only slightly overstating Pollan’s case to say that he thinks high fructose corn syrup is evil. I’m sure he’d love Bourbon Barrel Foods new sorghum line.