For a number of years, Botanica Life Foundation is making systemic efforts for preserving the sugar sorghum – a plant which is not grown commercially in Bulgaria and is at risk of being pushed out from people’s gardens. We also make systemic efforts for preserving the tradition of making treacle or madzhun (in Bulgarian) from the sugar sorghum. Madzhun is a honey-like substance, made by boling and the thickening the sap of the sorghum. It is a healthy and delicious product, with no added sugar, used for sweetening drinks, spreading on pancakes, making deserts and cocktails. The tradition of making madzhun is also at risk of being lost because it involves a lot of hard and manual work and many producers simply cannot return the financial investment from the production. You can read more about sugar sorghum and madzhun here.

This year, we turned the ritual of harvesting the sorghum and making madzhun into a workshop, learning about and celebrating the plant, the product and experiencing the whole process with everyone who wanted to delve into this festive activity. More than 20 people took part in the workshop.

The workshop on making madzhun is part of our determination to continue to organise celebrations and festivals in the gardens of Botanica Life Foundation with the participation of a wide range of audience. Our activities include both educational events, such as courses and seminars, and more recreational events, such as family picnics and cooking workshops.

If you are interested in participating in а similar event with us, or would like to co-organise one, please get in touch at info@botanicalife.org .

You can try treacle from sugar sorghum when you visit Botanica Guest House.

We would like to thank America for Bulgaria Foundation, with whose support we organised the event for the general audience and the Velux Foundation with whose support we included students from the Agricultural school in Popovo.