Farmers in south Louisiana are making ready for la roulaison (sugar cane harvest) that will begin in the next few weeks. Since I was a child, I have anxiously looked forward to this time of year. I can’t wait to see the workers in the fields cutting the cane and then loading it onto wagons and trucks to be carried to the sugar mills. The mills will belch and smoke, sending a sweet acrid smell across the countryside.

It’s also during this time of year that I enjoy thick, pure cane syrup drizzled on biscuits as big as cat heads, crunchy cornbread and light-as-a-feather pancakes. The unrefined sugar from the mills makes the best creamy pralines and my favorite gateau sirop (syrup cake.) I can’t wait to bake a sweet potato, then slather it with sweet butter and drizzle it with cane syrup.

Filed Under: Culinary History