MOULTRIE — The nearby City of Cairo may be famous for its syrup and “Syrupmakers,” but one Moultrie couple makes syrup the old-fashioned way. So old-fashioned, in fact, that they use the same methods as their grandfather did when he first started making the syrup.

Billy and Barbara Turner use a sugar cane mill powered by a mule to extract the cane juice. Billy said he believes he is the only syrupmaker in the area that still uses a mule to power his mill.

The syrupmaking method is part of his heritage, and Billy said he wants to see that tradition continued. He learned the method when he was a boy, and his dad served as the syrup maker for the community. He has been a part of the family business and the method for his entire life.

The Turners, who retired last week after running the Doerun IGA Supermarket for 21 years, use the process to create Renrut’s Six Mule Farm Country Sugar Cane Syrup. The syrup is made from the extracted sugar cane juice, and corn syrup and sodium benzoate are added to the final mix to preserve the finished product.

After the juice is extracted by the mill, the juice is poured and collected into a 65-gallon kettle. The kettle is surrounded by a brick enclosure with a fire lit underneath the kettle to cook the juice. Barbara said the juiced cane remnants are given as feed to the mules for their hard work.

While the cane juice is being cooked in the kettle, Billy and Barbara remove the juice’s impurities in a process called skimming. Although he has never measured the temperature, Billy said he guesses the juice reaches temperatures of 300 to 400 degrees while it is being cooked.

Just before the juice is removed from the kettle, Billy said the sodium benzoate is added into the juice. The new mixture is then ladled out of the kettle and strained through a cheese cloth into a large container.

The strained juice is then mixed with corn syrup and poured into bottles and boxed, ready for the customers.,

Billy said the syrup is sold for $3 a bottle or as a case of 12 bottles for $30. The Turners can be contacted at 2310 Old Doerun Road.