Molasses

There is a place here called Sidney Sugars, where they take sugar beets grown by local farmers, and extract the sugar in them to make what is brought to your kitchen table!

I have toured the factory before, and it's pretty awesome. My FIL actually works there as a mechanic during the winter months when there's no farming. He's worked there for over 30 years!

Those big tall bins are where the sugar is actually stored before being sold.

Not only does the factory make sugar, but they use some of the other by-products to make many other things, including molasses. They sell about 35,000 TONS of molasses every year. Very interesting...

For some reason, the factory decided it was going to give away some molasses for FREE. Yes, that is FREE! FIL decided it was a good idea to jump on the opportunity to get some, because he wanted to dump some on the hay for the cows, for extra nutrients right before calving. And why not? It was FREE! So he hooked up the trailer, drove to town, and came home with 4 of these bad boys:

I got bold (and waited until no one was watching) and opened up the lid. However, I wasn't bold enough to try and lean over the edge to get a picture of the inside, for fear of dropping my camera in! Sure enough, it's just like the molasses you get from the store! Smells and looks exactly the same. It will store in these bins for up to 2 years, so we'll have plenty for the next 2 winters!

Several days later, they still were giving the molasses away for free, so Patrick brought home 4 more of these tubs...and they're going back for more this week!

MOLASSES FOR EVERYONE!!!