Five Ways to Use Molasses
Molasses is a fantastic ingredient. This dark, thick, sticky liquid has a deep, rich, mesmerising sweetness and is seen as a very ‘grown-up’ kind of ingredient. It also has some unique health benefits which make it a far superior source of sweetness to processed white sugar. But what is molasses?
Molasses is a by-product of the process of refining sugar from sugarcane or sugarbeet. After the juice is boiled and the sugar crystals that form are removed, this viscous dark liquid is what’s left.
So what can you do with this lovely ingredient? Here are 5 of our favourite ideas:
Molasses is a wonderful addition to bread dough. The sugars will react wonderfully with yeast to stimulate air pockets, making for a well-risen loaf with a tantalising sweet note. It’s particularly suited to loaves containing rye flour.
It’s also a wonderful ingredient for cakes, especially fruit cakes and gingerbread. Add it to biscuit mixes too for a wonderfully treacly quality.
Use it in sauces and marinades
Why not add molasses to your marinades and sauces? It works very well as an ingredient in a dark glaze, paired with organic chipotle chilli powder – or why not use it in a Southern-style BBQ sauce?
It’s said that molasses will take any frizziness out of your hair due to its thick texture. When diluted with warm water and sprayed from a spray bottle into damp frizzy hair, it’ll work wonders if left on for around quarter of an hour before rinsing. It provides your hair with wonderful deep conditioning, and the minerals in molasses are excellent nutrients which will help strengthen and nourish every strand.
Molasses has been used for years to help skin affected by acne, eczema and rosacea. It softens the skin, and also stimulates the production of lactic acid, which is an excellent defence against many different damaging skin conditions. Applying molasses as part of a face mask will leave your skin moisturised, soft, smooth and, once washed off, not sticky at all!
If you have a sweet tooth but are trying to avoid processed white sugar, try molasses! It has a far lower glycaemic index, which means it won’t spike your blood sugar as much, and will prevent the build-up of excess fat and lipids in the blood.
Molasses often has a slightly bitter note, which adds a very intriguing, ‘adult’ note when added to your cup of coffee!
Come and have a look at our range of Molasses here!