Molasses

[eatingoutloud]

I find myself growing more intrigued by molasses and wonder what others think of it.

Love it? Hate it? How do you enjoy using it?

In looking through my vintage recipe cards, it's clear that it had its day pre-WWI when sugar prices were high. In my circle of friends, it seems relegated to winter holidays and I wish it were used more often.

I'm definitely a lover: gingersnaps, gingerbread, drizzled over pancakes or ice cream, and sometimes eaten from the jar with a spoon!

[annecros]

Gotta love it. What would pumpernickel be without it?

In all honestly, I lick the spoon after I have measured. It has a flavor all to its self.

[Peter the eater]

Molasses is a very important ingredient at my place -- I can't survive long without Crosby's from New Brunswick. Dark, thick, sweet, complex. So versatile.

[petite tête de chou]

While I enjoy molasses in sweet applications I *love* it in savory dishes.

The Beer-Brined Grilled Pork Chops recipe from Epicurious is definitely a favorite.

[mkayahara]

I love molasses, but I don't really know how to use it to best effect. I use it in any recipe that calls for it, but I never find myself in the position of making something and thinking that it needs more molasses. So I'll be reading this thread with interest!

I'm curious, though, about the reference in the OP to eating it out of the jar. I've only ever seen molasses in waxed cardboard, like a milk container. (Follow Peter the Eater's link to see what I mean.) Is that a Canadian thing?

Edited to add: My partner hates it, too, so that doesn't make it easy for me to incorporate it into my cooking!

Edited June 26, 2009 by mkayahara (log)

[gfron1]

Let's see...in my cupboard:

Bourbon Barrell Foods Sorghum molasses

Tazah middle Eastern Black molasses

Some generic stuff - Karo or some such

Generic Middle Eastern Carob molasses

and all are in jars. I love them all!

[kayb]

West Tennessee, on either side of Kentucky Lake just south of the Kentucky line, was long the center of sorghum molasses production in the South. One of the red-letter days in the year was the day the first "new sorghum" came out of the mill. I vividly remember as a child going to the mill and buying the quart and half-gallon buckets, which looked much like a paint can, and having it for dinner that night with thick country cured bacon, fresh butter, home-canned tomatos and cracklin' corn bread.

Today, I still buy it from the mill when I go home, albeit in pint jars; I use it a lot as a condiment for pork and other savory dishes, or as an element in sauces or marinades. I never make baked beans without it. I never make bran muffins without it. It's wonderful over peach ice cream, and as a base for a sauce for bread pudding. I've even used it as a substitute for the Karo syrup in a chess pie.

[annecros]

I love molasses, but I don't really know how to use it to best effect. I use it in any recipe that calls for it, but I never find myself in the position of making something and thinking that it needs more molasses. So I'll be reading this thread with interest!

I'm curious, though, about the reference in the OP to eating it out of the jar. I've only ever seen molasses in waxed cardboard, like a milk container. (Follow Peter the Eater's link to see what I mean.) Is that a Canadian thing?

Edited to add: My partner hates it, too, so that doesn't make it easy for me to incorporate it into my cooking!

←

Yeah, well, your partner will understand in time.

I don't think I have ever been in a position when I thought "It needs more molasses."

Generally it is "It needs molasses."

I have only ever seen it in a jar.

[onrushpam]

As a child, in the Ozarks, I LOVED sorghum molasses on biscuits. As an adult, I've never been able to find quite the same product. I think the stuff I ate as a child was made by my grandfather, not a commercial product. The closest thing I've found down here in the deep South is labeled as Cane Syrup, but it's not quite the same. I LOVE Lyle's Golden Syrup, from the UK... it's the closest I've found to what I remember from childhood.

I use Grandma's Molasses (the dark, unsulphered kind with the yellow label) in some recipes. But, it's not right for spreading on biscuits.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I like it in BBQ sauce, dark breads, and a few other things. What's not to like?

[Lilija]

I love it.

The epitome of my love came when touring the Appleton Rum distillery, in Jamaica. The tour guide gave us a spoonful of this by-product of the rum making process, which was huge sugar crystals suspended in deep brown molasses roughly the same texture as a very sticky peanut butter. I had died and gone to crunchy, awesome molasses heaven.

Outside of that experience, my favorite use for it is in these triple ginger molasses cookies, that are unbelievably deep, dark and spicy. They're almost hot tasting, with a hint of bitterness.

[Dave the Cook]

It's indispensable in making your own Worcestershire sauce.

[Abra]

I love molasses, and I love all these ideas. Now all we need here is some favorite recipes!

[Jaymes]

Love molasses - and the stronger, darker, the better.

I've seen it in jars and in the olden days, cans that had lids you had to pry up.

As for the old-time sorghum. We find it at various home-style stores in the Ozarks. I think you can order it online.

And for recipes - we love it on biscuits, or a little drizzled into wintertime hot cereals like oatmeal, cream of wheat, mush. It's wonderful in baked beans, or in squash and sweet potato recipes. And I add a little into the caramel corn recipe I've put on eG.

[CKatCook]

All I am going to say is shoofly pie. LOVE IT!!

[Dejah]

Hubby's ONE culinary skill: making toast then scooping up a dish of molasses - to be applied to the toast with a spoon - one bite at a time.

His nanny used to make a great soft molasses cookie. I need to make those!

[ChefCrash]

Mix Tahini with Carob molasses until you have the color of chocolate milk and enjoy on toast.

[andiesenji]

Softened butter mashed into sorghum molasses and spread on biscuits was the breakfast sweet of my early childhood in the late winter and early spring when the stock of homemade jams, jellies and preserves had been depleted.

My earliest memory at about age 3 was riding my little tricycle around the big round breakfast table and having a bite of biscuit and "scumbly" popped into my mouth every time I went past my grandpa's chair.

I have an ancient "receipt" for molasses stack cake which is an assembly of thin layers of a spice cake (actually baked on griddle in a ring) and "filled" with molasses. There is no covering so the layers (usually eight) are clearly visible.

I made in only once and found it to be extremely sweet but the flavor was great.

I intended to try it again with a different and less sweet type of cake but, like so many projects, never got around to it.

[LizD518]

Love it! When my mom made homemade bread when I was a kid we would take a slice and dip pieces into molasses to eat. My grandmother made molasses cookies and always had them available when we visited. Last year I found a recipe in the newspaper for molasses brownies from Harvest Restaurant in Cambridge, MA. I finally made them last month and they are going to be my standard brownies from now on. The molasses intensifies and complements the chocolate beautifully.

[LRunkle]

Makes the basis for amazing glazes (modify with cinnamon, allspice, coriander, red pepper olive oil, butter and so on) on chicken, meat or roast vegetables like brussel sprouts, carrots etc. Drizzle with butter and salt on baked sweet potatoes.

Add to cider and spices for hot buttered rum base.

[Chris Amirault]

Indispensable at our house. I mix maple syrup and blackstrap molasses 1:1 to have on all breakfast items that others put just syrup on: french toast, pancakes, and, especially, johnnycakes.

[jumanggy]

Ooh everyone's a fan of the bitterness!

Allen, (heh, people think you're a natural Canadian I've recently discovered that gingerbread is the one dessert flavor I can't seem to get tired of. Cannot get enough, and I think it's a shame people don't make it usually outside winter months.

It's awesome in barbecue sauce. Can't imagine spooning it though, as it's a tad too sweet even for me. (But somehow condensed milk is okay.)

[Lisa Shock]

I like it and use it quite a bit. I learned as a kid to use it with regular sugar to make brown sugar for recipes. I really like experimenting with varying amounts in baked goods and other things like fruit compote.

And, yes, it's indispensable in barbecue sauce.

I usually see it in glass jars, but expect it to be in plastic bottles any day now.

In some of my older cookbooks, civil war to the pre-WWII era to be precise, I have some recipes that make 'brownies' with molasses -and the recipes use no chocolate. Now, molasses in chocolate brownies is, IMO a great addition. I used to make a recipe from the Brer Rabbit jar all the time when I was in college in the late 70s -early 80's. People seemed to like it, and I wish I could get ahold of that recipe again. But, these chocolate-free recipes are something unique, sort of like chewy gingerbread, not to everyone's taste.

[elfin]

Not to sound like (ugh-forgive myself) Sandra Lee, I use a few tablespoons of the stuff in canned pork and beans and add some brown sugar to the mix and let it simmer on low for a long time. I also put it in my BBQ sauce. The jar seems to last forever.

[Kerry Beal]

I like it and use it quite a bit. I learned as a kid to use it with regular sugar to make brown sugar for recipes. I really like experimenting with varying amounts in baked goods and other things like fruit compote.

And, yes, it's indispensable in barbecue sauce.

I usually see it in glass jars, but expect it to be in plastic bottles any day now.

In some of my older cookbooks, civil war to the pre-WWII era to be precise, I have some recipes that make 'brownies' with molasses -and the recipes use no chocolate. Now, molasses in chocolate brownies is, IMO a great addition. I used to make a recipe from the Brer Rabbit jar all the time when I was in college in the late 70s -early 80's. People seemed to like it, and I wish I could get ahold of that recipe again. But, these chocolate-free recipes are something unique, sort of like chewy gingerbread, not to everyone's taste.

←

There is a small cookbook out there called the 'Brer Rabbit Book of Molasses Magic'. eBay has copies. Might find your recipe in there.

Oh yeah, and I'm a molasses lover - gingerbread, cookies, baked beans...

Edited June 29, 2009 by Kerry Beal (log)