In Australia, molasses isn’t always particularly palatable – sweet, but also thick, black and often bitter. The byproduct of sugar cane production, it’s good for cooking, but difficult to eat straight, and one of its more common uses is as cattle feed. It isn’t a product I use often, preferring instead the sweeter treacle or golden syrup.
So I was both surprised and delighted during a recent trip to Harkola to find three different molasses (molasseses?) made from a variety of base ingredients.
On the left is a jar of mulberry molasses from Turkey – probably the closest to what we know as traditional molasses, but much nicer. It’s dark, sweet and raisiny with a slightly tannic note, but very edible with a spoon. It’s much less viscous than sugarcane molasses, with a texture similar to a thick syrup.
In the middle is a bottle of pomegranate molasses from Lebanon, the current in-vogue ingredient in many fine dining restaurants (and food blogs!). It’s surprisingly tart, more liquid than the mulberry version, and would be brilliant in a salad dressing. Pete thought we could use this in much the same way as sweet balsamic vinegar. For some reason, its flavour reminds me a little of sherbet lollies.
My personal favourite is the date molasses, also from Lebanon, which Ray at Harkola told me is traditionally combined with tahini and spread on bread. It has become my newest baking ingredient, and I’ve been using it in cakes and cookies wherever molasses or treacle is called for. The date flavour is quite pronounced, and again, the texture is quite liquid and syrupy.
Despite all being called molasses, the three different versions taste completely different to each other, and I’m sure I’ll find a use for all of them. Do you use any of these in your cooking? If so, I’d love to know what you do with them!
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