What is the difference between molasses and black treacle? | Ragus (2024)

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What is the difference between molasses and black treacle? | Ragus? ›

Molasses is boiled for a lot longer than black treacle

Both molasses and treacle are byproducts of the sugar-refining process, though treacle is most commonly used in the United Kingdom. Treacle can be easily substituted for molasses, and vice versa, though the sweetness and consistency will be subtly different.

More commonly known as treacle or black treacle or, in the US as blackstrap molasses, molasses are essentially what is left over after cane sugar is boiled to produce sugar and most of the sugar has been extracted.

What is a British treacle? They aren't the same. Treacle is dark, sweet and slightly bitter. Molasses are less sweet, more bitter and thicker.

Treacle is a generic British term for any syrup made during the refining of sugar cane. Later, refined sugar became more affordable and overtook treacle as a sweetener. However, colonial Americans often substituted molasses for treacle in their recipes.

In the majority of cases, molasses and black treacle can be used interchangeably, particularly if you don't like the bitter taste that black treacle imparts. For a closer substitute, you can use blackstrap molasses.

Both have a deep, aromatic flavour that adds a unique finish to food and drink recipes, but they are subtly different, with treacle tending to be a sweeter product that has less of a bitter profile than molasses. Compared to treacle, molasses is thicker in consistency and darker in colour.

Black treacle is a sweeter product, lacking the slightly bitter flavour that molasses brings to the table. Molasses is thicker than black treacle, which has a comparatively runny consistency. Black treacle is slightly runnier than molasses.

With further boiling, molasses can be concentrated even more, allowing thermal decomposition to carbonize its remaining sugars into a black, bitter, and downright salty sludge. This, my friends, is blackstrap.

Treacle is also used in some savory applications, like for curing bacon or glazing meats, much the way molasses is included in American barbecue sauces. As its name implies, black treacle ($10.99, amazon.com) is much darker in color than light (golden) treacle.

Is grandma's molasses considered blackstrap molasses? ›

Note: This is not blackstrap molasses. Grandma's molasses is a mild molasses from the first processing of the sugar cane and has a relatively high sugar content, while blackstrap molasses is the remnant from the third processing and has the maximum amount of sugar removed.

Yes, black treacle or molasses does have an expiration date. I read that it does have a shelf life of two years after opening. Any syrups will grow mold. If you look on the lid of the Molasses/ black treacle can/ jar, the expiration date is usually four years from the manufactured date.

Is black treacle good for you? Well, it has notable nutritional properties. Because of the particularly high proportion of molasses present, the nutritional profile of black treacle includes an elevated amount of vitamin B6, potassium, calcium, and iron.

If you don't have treacle then you can use molasses as an alternative. We would not use extra sugar instead of the treacle as treacle is an invert sugar, which particularly helps to keep the cake moist.

It has a robust flavour similar to Cane Treacle, with a more rounded, smoother flavour than molasses. Black treacle is a thick, dark, sugar syrup which is used in rich bakery products, Christmas puddings, rich fruit cakes, toffees, savoury sauces and marinades for cooking.

Treacle (/ˈtriːkəl/) is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar. The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and black treacle, a darker variety similar to molasses. Black treacle has a distinctively strong, slightly bitter flavor, and a richer color than golden syrup.

Molasses and treacle are similar and are both syrups that are made during the processing of cane sugar. In this cake it will be fine to use molasses as a substitute.

Treacle (/ˈtriːkəl/) is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar. The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and black treacle, a darker variety similar to molasses. Black treacle has a distinctively strong, slightly bitter flavor, and a richer color than golden syrup.

With an intense flavour, dark colour and bitter-sweet taste, black treacle is widely used in industrial food applications such as Christmas puddings, treacle tarts, fruit cakes, parkin and gingerbread. Its distinctive properties make it a core functional ingredient of liquorice sweets and treacle toffee.