ABBEVILLE, La. (KLFY) — Steen’s Syrup, a staple of Cajun and Creole cooking produced in Vermilion Parish for over a century, remains headquartered in Abbeville under the leadership of its founding family’s fourth generation.
The company originated more than 100 years ago when founder Charley Steen faced a major problem after an early freeze damaged his sugar cane crop. To save his harvest and investment, Steen constructed a small mill to process the frozen cane into syrup, yielding just a few barrels in his first attempt.
Following that initial batch, local farmers began bringing their own sugar cane to the mill, taking home syrup to use throughout the year…