Ever wonder what molasses is? Or how it's made?

October 9, 2002 10:50 PM

Ever wonder what molasses is? Or how it's made? The last of the old-fashioned craft of making molasses. At this point you're just a few steps away from making moonshine.
posted by nyxxxx (24 comments total)

Hhmmmm. Haven't seen it, find it interesting.

[this is good]
posted by Wulfgar! at 11:14 PM on October 9, 2002

In answer to your questions, nyxxxx, yes and yes. Thanks - I wish I could taste a ladleful of the stuff those guys make!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:15 AM on October 10, 2002

Hannah smiles when he thinks about the stone-ground cornbread topped homemade molasses he will soon be eating.

"It's good," he said. "It's mighty good."

Whee! mmm....molasses. Wonder if Weeble and sometimes Bob could switch topics. "Waddis?" "Dis is Molasses!" "Don't look like Molasses?" "Ohhh...it real good molasses ... try molasses, try!"
posted by Happydaz at 12:25 AM on October 10, 2002

I love to watch or learn how stuff is made. This was mega cool.

I love(d) it when they would show how they made bread, or candy or whatever on Mr. Rogers. They should have a cable channel that is nothing but "How They Make Crap."

I've got a cool recipe for Curried Hardboiled Eggs on my blog. I love watching cooking shows too. It's just so relaxing.
posted by geekhorde at 1:04 AM on October 10, 2002

I've never had molasses, but always imagined it as the heroin to (good, Canajun) maple syrup's opium.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:07 AM on October 10, 2002

Umm, what exactly is molasses? Is it just syrup made out of sugar?
posted by rosmo at 1:28 AM on October 10, 2002

It's like syrup made out of the darkest brown sugar ever. It has a dark, almost bitter flavor, but extremely sweet. It's thicker than regular syrup.

And for those of you fascinated by recipes, here's mine for Genuine Southern Iced Tea.

http://www.weirdco.com/news.htm
posted by nyxxxx at 1:43 AM on October 10, 2002

When Molasses Attacks!
posted by jiroczech at 2:32 AM on October 10, 2002

If you've outgrown hot chocolate but still want a nice steamy cold-weather beverage, try one teaspoon of blackstrap molasses, boiling water and milk to taste. It's good for you too - high in iron! Be careful to get the blackstrap molasses. In my grocery store they also sell molasses that is thinner, sweeter and less flavorful - I think they add cane sugar.
posted by BinGregory at 5:18 AM on October 10, 2002

Hannah said the homemade cornmeal is tastier than commercial corn bread mixes sold at the grocery store.


I have no doubt about this at all. Processed cornmeal that you buy in the grocery store has been degerminated because the germ contains oil which can go rancid quickly if not refrigerated. Cornmeal with the germ (found in health food stores) has more flavor and vitamins and is the only cornmeal that can be used for making polenta.

I've often used molasses in my coffee for sweetening-- it adds a smooth, dark taste that many Southerners enjoy.

. They should have a cable channel that is nothing but "How They Make Crap."

Geekhorde: Do you ever watch the Food Channel's Unwrapped? It is a show dedicated to showing how different foods (mostly snacks) and drinks are made.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:13 AM on October 10, 2002

geekhorde - you should be watching "Unwrapped" on the Food Network. It's basically "How They Make Crap" with a much better title.

Happydaz - maybe Weebl and Bob already know about molasses pie. Want pie now!


(ack -- on preview SLoG beat me to the Unwrapped mention)
posted by briank at 6:14 AM on October 10, 2002

Don't tell my girlfriend, but molasses is the secret ingredient in most of my cooking. Especially tofu and broccoli, with garlic and course black pepper and about a jigger of molasses thrown in at the last minute (my exquisite replica of pad kratium.) Damn. Now I'm hungry.
posted by mikrophon at 6:43 AM on October 10, 2002

It's not made out of moles??
posted by UncleFes at 6:52 AM on October 10, 2002

I love this kind of slow process sweet stuff preparation. Hard work for pure loveliness. If I ever get some land I'm either growing sorghum or keeping bees. Or tapping maples. Or something.

Molasses as secret ingredient. Hmmmm. Mikrophon has also given me much to ponder.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:52 AM on October 10, 2002

UncleFes: Good thing for my nasal passages I didn't have anything in my mouth. I can just see the assembly line where their little posteriors are removed...

For my (very short-lived) first job out of school, I was in a training class just down the block from where the Molasses Attacked. On a warm day, you could still smell molasses.
posted by skyscraper at 8:10 AM on October 10, 2002

I still remember visiting Grandma back in the day and eating her to die for molassas cookies. I blame her and my wife (best cook on the face of this earth) for my current medical condition.
posted by Plunge at 9:24 AM on October 10, 2002

Thanks! As ridiculous as this sounds, I once actually went to the grocery store to check the ingredients of a bottle of molasses. It read:

Ingredients: Molasses
posted by Samsonov14 at 10:16 AM on October 10, 2002

Molasses was one of the main ingredients used to make bagels at the shop I worked for in high school. Man, it was such a mess working with a five gallon bucket of sticky brownness. Envision trying to mix bagel dough early saturday morning and spilling molasses down your shirt. Then having to open a 100 pound bag a flour and pouring it in the giant mixer. Needless to say, its the closest I've been to being tarred and feathered.
posted by feelsgoo at 10:27 AM on October 10, 2002

Molasses in history
posted by agaffin at 10:39 AM on October 10, 2002

I don't think it ever says so in the linked articles, but there are different types of molasses. The linked article describes sorghum molasses, made from the sorghum plant, not sugar cane. Sugar cane molasses comes in three forms, too, and it's what's used in rum production.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:02 PM on October 10, 2002

Obligatory link to The Great Molasses Disaster. It's all good fun until someone dies.
posted by SPrintF at 12:23 PM on October 10, 2002

Thanks MrMoonPie! I laughed at this:
Blackstrap molasses comes from the third boiling and is what amounts to the dregs of the barrel. It's very thick, dark and somewhat bitter. Though it's popular with health-food followers, it's more commonly used as a cattle food.
I guess FoodTV's got my number. Well, what do I know, I drink pot liquor too...
posted by BinGregory at 12:47 PM on October 10, 2002

Secret Life of Gravy and briank:

Argh! I really really wish that my local cable monopolists provided the Food Channel. Seriously, if they did, I'd consider getting cable.

Thanks for the tip(s).

:)
posted by geekhorde at 10:32 PM on October 10, 2002

God invented molasses so we could make Gingerbread, one of the perfect foods: fast, easy and delicious. Go make some now.
posted by taz at 2:18 AM on October 11, 2002