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Molasses

What Is Molasses? - Answered by Doug Essinger-Hileman
             Adam Quinan Replies to Doug
             Gingerbread and Molasses - Mary S.
             Uses for Molasses - Marian Van Til
             Louisiana-made Cane Syrup - Jennifer Scates
             More Uses for Molasses - Rowen
             Mary Arndt's OED Summary


What Is Molasses? - Answered by Doug Essinger-Hileman
Molasses is the brown-stuff by-product of the sugar refining process. (The irony of modern technology is that most brown sugar is white, refined sugar with the molasses added back into the mix.) Originally, molasses was produced from sorghum; today it is produced from sugar cane and beet sugar.

Adam Quinan Replies to Doug
However, your remarks about treacle coming from sugar cane perturbed me. Surely you know the only true treacle is mined from shallow veins in the English countryside.
See The Treacle Mines of England
Sugar cane "treacle" is a poor substitute that some benighted people use because of its cheapness. You get what you pay for.

Gingerbread and Molasses - Mary S.
I tried to make gingerbread once and substitute maple syrup for the molasses. WRONG! It was like a flat, greenish, jelly thing when it came out. You have to have the acid in the molasses to activate the baking soda for the gingerbread to rise! But did I know that? No.

Uses for Molasses - Marian Van Til
Besides toffee and various cookies (and spice cake), there are a variety of uses for molasses, one of which is eating a large writhing spoonful out of the jar now and then. Good stuff! -- and very high in iron, I'm told. A few tablespoons to a quarter cup of molasses in chile is a fine addition; same for homemade barbeque sauce. Molasses drizzled on cooked oatmeal is also good.

Louisiana-made Cane Syrup - Jennifer Scates
There is a Louisiana-made cane syrup - Steen's is the brand name - that I have been successful in substituting for treacle in some recipes. It helps to add a little bit of extra baking soda in the substitution.

More Uses for Molasses - Rowen
Molasses is also great in eggnog (just stir in) , or homemade egg-milk shakes (raw egg*, milk, bit of vanilla, bit of molasses, lots of crushed ice, blend till smooth and semi-frozen.) I think it's also supposed to be high in iron. Didn't they recommend a daily dose of blackstrap molasses for pregnant women in pioneer times?
*all responsibility for eating raw eggs is the reader's. If you don't like raw eggs or are worried about salmonella, you can cook the eggs with the milk first, or you can use the artificial egg product.

Mary Arndt's OED Summary
Molasses is from ultimately the late latin word for honey-like: mellacus 1.The uncrystallized syrup drained from raw sugar; also the syrup obtained from sugar in the process of refining. The word is now rare in British use, but in the U.S. is commonly used promiscuously with treacle. In technical language, molasses is applied to the drainings of raw sugar and treacle from the sugar in the process of refining.
Treacle is from the greek theriaca (imagine the greek alphabet here please) by way of late latin triaca which is an antidote against a venomous bite. Treacle originally meant a medicinal substance; a sovereign remedy.
The food substance is defined thus: II 4. The uncrystallized syrup produced in the process of refining sugar; also sometimes extended to the uncrystalizable syrup that drains from raw sugar.