Syrup
Dark Molasses
A tier
Dark (second) molasses has been boiled again: thicker, less sweet, more bitter-mineral, the middle of the cane-syrup ladder. It is what many gingerbread and shoofly recipes mean when they just say molasses and want colour. It will darken a rye loaf and a barbecue sauce. Blackstrap is a step further—do not assume they are equal. Warm the jar if it pours like tar.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
GingerbreadRyeSauce
Traits
Baker DarkColourMore BitterNot BlackstrapSecond BoilShooflyThickerWarm To Pour
History
Second-boil molasses became the baker's dark syrup once first molasses was reserved as milder.
US
Dark molasses was the grocery workhorse for gingerbread colour.
Dark sat between light and blackstrap as cooks learned to specify.