The Forgotten Harvest

A truckload of pressed cane at Lavington Plantation.

Steam rises from a steam of boiling cane syrup.

David Maybank samples the goods.

The group looks on while the fire gets stoked.

Moss-draped trees line the road to Lavington.

Ben Ferguson unearths a load of cane that he had buried to keep it from spoiling.

Caramelized sugar on the edge of the kettle.

Cane juice cools as it runs from a ladling bucket back into the kettle.

Maybank works the press, crushing and squeezing juice from fresh cane.

Syrup drips off a soaked cornbread muffin.

Seed cane sprouts at Lavington.

Jimmy Hagood tends to the fire.

When the hydrometer reaches thirty-two, the cane syrup is done cooking.

Stewart Walker tests the finished product.

Hagood pours a jarful of syrup.

Swapping stories at Lavington after the cook.

A syrup-slathered feast, with shrimp, elk, game birds, and a Pappy Van Winkle-fueled cocktail.