Making History Sweet

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Amos M. Campbell, Jr., 81, a retired confections store owner and connoisseur of all things sweet and sticky, has rediscovered a fun way to introduce people to United States history while they experience a long lost piece of Americana. By demonstrating a traditional Saturday night social pastime of the 1800s, his audience gets to ply their fingers through warm and sticky sorghums molasses taffy. They pull and tug the sweet mixture until it is lighter in color and fluffier in texture while they listen to his reminiscence of his childhood experiences and many historical events of days gone by.

            His business, “Jupies Old Fashioned Sorghum Molasses Taffy Pull” was named after his childhood nickname, a derivative of “Junior.” His home base is in Brunswick, Ohio and he travels with his wife and assistant, Flo, throughout Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New England, and many other states, going to schools, nursing homes, festivals, family reunions, libraries, offices and historical societies. Last year he was invited to a NASA office in Washington, DC as he delighted the employees with his sweet amusement. In 2006 he was listed on the resource activities directory for the Ohio Bicentennial. He has appeared on television shows and has been featured in a number of newspaper and magazine articles. One of his videos can be seen at www.myfoxcleveland.com on Robin Swoboda's show "That's Life."

            Amos makes the taffy ahead of time and places it in individual containers for each participant, warming it in microwaves or his own specially designed heating bins before giving a container to each “puller.” It is necessary to pull the taffy to aerate it, making it lighter and chewier and with a little practice novices learn quickly. He demonstrates several of his own pulling techniques that young and old alike find delightful. Each taffy puller gets to take his taffy home or shape it around an apple to create a “taffy apple.”

            During each taffy pull event he explains that one of the main sweeteners of the 18^th and 19th centuries was sorghums molasses and the Saturday night taffy pull became popular. Since sugar was a precious commodity at that time, the American settlers often sought substitutes. Sorghum cane, which was native to Africa, may have been brought to America on slave ships. Sorghums, less expensive than sugar cane, was quicker and easier to grow. The Native Americans also taught the colonists how to collect maple syrup in the spring and wild honey in summer. Many farmers began to grow their own sorghums cane. Salt water taffy was later developed in 1902, in which the main ingredient is corn syrup.

            One of his favorite historical events he likes to talk about is the January 15, 1919, “molasses flood” of Boston. A 2.5 million gallon tank of molasses stored for use by the United States Alcohol Company to produce rum exploded during a sudden 40 degree rise in temperature, splitting the tank open and letting loose a 15-foot wall of molasses on the north end of the city. The wall of molasses pushed down houses, derailed train cars and killed 21 people. Today, residents of Boston’s North End claim that on hot days they can still smell the sweet molasses odor.

            Amos has been endeavoring to make history “sweeter” for all of us and says he plans to continue for as many years as he can.

 

 

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