The Sweet, Spicy Future of a Million Local Sunflowers

Contributed

If you happened to miss seeing the field of over a million sunflowers at the Hagen History Center's Girard campus this summer, you can still get a taste. A custom rum, distilled from the seeds of those very sunflowers, will be available for purchase in early summer.

On a cool evening last summer, my boyfriend and I drove out to Girard to admire the sunflowers at Battles Farm. What I didn't know at the time was that in the fall, their seeds would be harvested and distilled into a spiced rum that I would be sipping on in the spring. In a small gathering at the Hagen History Center, I witnessed the unveiling of a sunflower rum made by Wilds Sonshine Factory.

As a previous student of sustainable agriculture, I was excited by an agricultural process that stayed within two hours of Erie County. Dave Conklin, owner of Wilds Sonshine Factory in Kane, Pennsylvania, figured out how to grow sunflowers that produce starch which can later be distilled into alcohol. Hagen History Center and farmer Jim Neuburger planted and harvested over one million of Conklin's sunflowers to produce a yield that could make half a million bottles of liquor. The rum, tentatively dubbed 1898 Bayfront Reserve, will be exclusively sold in Erie County and is expected to be in nearly "every bar and establishment in Erie County, hopefully by early summer," Conklin said.

Dave passed around the rum for us to smell. "That's what you grew, my friend," he said, passing it to Neuburger. It was nutty and malty, with notes of apple and cinnamon. I was curious to see how it translated in its flavor.

I didn't have to wait long. Soon we traveled down into the President's Room, where we were greeted with two mixed drinks, rum and coke and rum and pineapple juice. I chose pineapple juice – the sunflower rum added warmth and depth to the otherwise fruity drink. When I tried it straight, I could taste more of the fragrant notes I picked up during the smell test. It was strong and astringent at first, followed by slightly sweet and spicy flavors.

The combination of ecotourism at the Hagen History Center's Battles campus and the Erie-exclusive product of 1898 Bayfront Reserve is a truly local project that I was excited to witness, from flower to glass. "We're really proud of it," Conklin said. "It's true to Erie County, it's the real deal."

For more information on the Battles property visit: hagenhistory.org/visit/girard-campus

For more information on 1898 Bayfront Reserve, visit: wildssonshinefactory.org

Alana Sabol can be reached at alana@eriereader.com