Replacing molasses in recipes?

I see some American recipes calling for molasses, and the only kind of molasses we can get here is blackstrap molasses, which is extremely strong in taste and not sweet and I can’t imagine using it in these recipes in the quantity they ask for.

From memory I think in the past I may have used barley malt syrup to replace molasses in recipes and it worked. What other things could be used to replace regular molasses? Could a smaller amount of honey be used instead? Or the same amount? Would coconut sugar work?

Also is golden syrup the same thing as molasses? Or are they different? And what is treacle???

I've always used black strap molasses in recipes and never found it too strong or not sweet enough.  The recipes I can think of that use molasses would be way too sweet and boring tasting if barley malt syrup was used. What recipes are you looking at?

Golden syrup is a form of cane or beet sugar.  Cane syrup/golden syrup is what we used on pancakes when I was a kid. Treacle is the same thing, but it can be darker and more like a light molasses, too.

This is what we used.

https://www.lanticrogers.com/en/products/rogers-golden-syrup/

I have always used either honey or brown sugar as a substitute for molasses as it is something I never buy.

One year when we were moving I found some molasses in the cabinet, I assume dear hubby bought it.  I think it is still in a cabinet somewhere unopened.

Apple Molasses
Stores for years

https://foodretro.com/apple-molasses/

"Ingredients
4 cups fresh apple cider (minimum quantity)
Directions
Step 1. In a large pot, bring your apple cider to a boil and then reduce to a strong simmer.
Step 2. Skim foam off the top of the cider and check periodically as it reduces.
Step 3. Simmer uncovered until the apple cider is a dark colour, and begins to thicken to a consistency like maple syrup. Cider should be a minimum of 1/7 and up to 1/10 original volume to be shelf-stable. Remove from heat and store in a sterile jar in the refrigerator."

Date Syrup

https://a.co/d/7L57N8J

Maybe try sweet sorghum?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sorghum

Kate Downham wrote:Also is golden syrup the same thing as molasses? Or are they different? And what is treacle???

Sounds like you've been reading a UK cookbook...

This is golden syrup.



And this is black treacle. Think of it as the UK version of molasses.



And then, just when you thought you'd gotten your head around it, this is treacle tart. Which is made with golden syrup.



This link explains it all pretty well - Treacle vs Molasses

Blackstrap is what we use. It doesn't seem to be a problem in any recipes though I wouldn't eat it by the spoonfull.

G C Childers wrote:Apple Molasses

"Ingredients
4 cups fresh apple cider (minimum quantity)
Directions

Just to clarify (for those of us in the UK) The recipe uses fresh apple juice? Not fermented?

I think fresh cider is unfermented, but also cloudy and unfiltered. In the US, at least, cider is cloudy and juice is yellow but crystal clear. And it would be called hard cider if it was fermented into a wine.

Fresh pressed, pasteurized, bottled.

j

Christopher Weeks wrote:I think fresh cider is unfermented, but also cloudy and unfiltered. In the US, at least, cider is cloudy and juice is yellow but crystal clear. And it would be called hard cider if it was fermented into a wine.

I think it makes a difference whether you have sugarcane molasses or sugar beet molasses. The blackstrap molasses from cane, like Blue Mountain Country brand from Jamaica, I find to have a rich, pleasant taste even at the blackstrap variety. However, I recall when I was in Europe molasses was hard to find and it was sugar beet syrup, which had a strong metallic taste which gave baked goods an off flavor, to my taste.

Burra Maluca wrote:

Kate Downham wrote:Also is golden syrup the same thing as molasses? Or are they different? And what is treacle???

Sounds like you've been reading a UK cookbook...

This is golden syrup.

And this is black treacle. Think of it as the UK version of molasses.



And then, just when you thought you'd gotten your head around it, this is treacle tart. Which is made with golden syrup.

This link explains it all pretty well - Treacle vs Molasses

Thank you for clearing that up!

I've grown up in Australia - golden syrup was easily found here, and was an essential ingredient for Anzac biscuits but not really used in anything else. Treacle I don't think I have ever seen here.

A cook book I have that translated recipe for Anzac biscuits into American says the sub for “golden syrup” is three parts light corn syrup and one part molasses.” Maybe that helps a bit in working out a sub the other way round?

Mk Neal wrote:I think it makes a difference whether you have sugarcane molasses or sugar beet molasses. The blackstrap molasses from cane, like Blue Mountain Country brand from Jamaica, I find to have a rich, pleasant taste even at the blackstrap variety. However, I recall when I was in Europe molasses was hard to find and it was sugar beet syrup, which had a strong metallic taste which gave baked goods an off flavor, to my taste.

I think this is really important.
I've lived in so many places with different options (and lacking other ones), I generally just swap everything for everything else (maple syrup, molasses, honey, brown sugar, even white sugar) depending on where I am and what I'm doing.
Occasionally something has a structural role that's hard to replace (maltose or malt syrup to make chinese roasted pork get that caramel burned skin is the first example that comes to mind) but for the most part, it all works out just fine in a swap.
Here we have great molasses (sugarcane juice, boiled down), but it varies in sweetness and thickness by season and even will occasionally ferment if you don't store it in the fridge (kaboom).