"Learn" Your Way Around the Kitchen
Brooms
The term “fly off the handle” came to be as a result of the use of handmade brooms which, when used too forcefully, had a tendency to lose their heads!
The broom in the Carney Farmhouse is a period reproduction typical of brooms used in homes during the late 19th century.
Short History of Broom-making in America
Up until the early 1800s, brooms were made out of branches or weeds held together by rope attached to a bigger branch that served as the handle. This type broom is called the Besom broom. It is believed that the broom stayed in this form until an American inventor named Levi Dickenson made a broom head out of sorghum for his wife. The broom was bulky and round (not like the brooms we have today) but it was far superior to brooms made of weeds and thus became the “broom of choice” for American housewives and as a result the demand for sorghum brooms grew.
In the year 1810 a wooden broom shaft was introduced. To fasten the sorghum onto the shaft a hole was made in one end of the stick and then the sorghum was tied down with a rope and held together by a wooden nail that was inserted into the hole in the shaft. Flat and plain shovel like shape of the broom (called: besom, push broom, corn broom, whisk broom) has stayed the same to this day. The design is believed to have been developed by “The Shakers”. The Shakers were also the first to use metal wire in the broom production. In the beginning of the nineteenth century machine usage has been introduced in the broom making business.
Sorghum brooms are still in use today for sweeping floors. Its application depends on the model, length of sorghum fibers, weight, length and radius of the shaft. To make a high quality broom the materials must be prepared and processed properly.(1)
Today, sorghum is grown for a variety of purposes. It’s use in broom making is relegated to cottage industry. Sorghum is not a widely grown crop in Delaware and it is seen mostly in non-irrigated fields. In 2017, Delaware sorghum production amounted to 30,883 bushels grown on 450 acres. For comparison sake, Delaware corn production that year topped 28 million bushels, produced from 180,000 acres.
There are several species and varieties of sorghum, each suitable for different uses. Sweet sorghum is used not only in molasses but as a healthy alternative sweetener to produce whiskey and rum type products and for biofuel and chemical production. Sorghum can also be used as a grain or ground into a gluten-free flour. Since it has no gluten, it requires a binding agent such as xanthan gum or cornstarch in some recipes.
In farming, sorghum can be used for grazing pasture, hay production, silage and green-chop. Forage sorghum typically grows 8 to 15 feet tall and is most popular for use as silage for feeding livestock.
Biomass sorghum has the largest stature of all the sorghum varieties, reaching a height of 20 feet in a normal growing season. Biomass sorghum has been bred to produce a large amount of non-grain biomass. These hybrids are used primarily for the production of bioenergy.(2)
(1)
History of brooms, who, where, when. Broom making tradition more than 40 years (sorghum-brooms-eco.com)
(2)
What’s this Crop? Sorghum edition – Delaware Farm Bureau (defb.org)
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