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Hisyory of Molasses




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Internet


List of Ingredients




Despite the fact that molasses is very "today," its American history dates back to 1493 when Columbus introduced it to the West Indies. Molasses became an important product in Colonial trade. It was the major sweetener used in America until after World War I because it was less expensive than sugar. Molasses was so important that the founders of the colony of Georgia promised each man, woman, and child who endured a year in Georgia 64 quarts of molasses as a reward.

Baking was the most popular way to prepare food in the Colonies, so molasses became associated with baked goods: doughnuts, mince pies, pumpkin pies, ginger bread, baked beans, corn bread, countless cookies, and cakes. Maine children poured it over buttered bread for Sunday night supper, while molasses formed the base under the crumb topping of Pennsylvania Dutch shoofly pie. In England, any candy made of molasses was called toffee, which evolved into taffy in the Colonies, and a great Saturday night activity was a taffy pull.

The most important spirit that warmed the Colonists' was rum - made principally from molasses. Just before the Revolutionary war, it is estimated that Colonists, including women and children, downed an average of four gallons of rum a year. As a matter of fact, some historians argue that it was not the British tax on American tea that precipitated the Revolutionary War, but the Molasses Act of 1733 which imposed a heavy tax on sugar and molasses coming from anywhere except the British sugar islands in the Caribbean. But there was such widespread evasion of this tariff that it was lowered in 1764.

Molasses remained the most popular sweetener through the nineteenth century. Used to sweeten drinks, as well as for confections, molasses was also used to flavor meat, especially pork and ham. By the 1830's, a bride's popularity was measured by the number of layers of molasses stack cake guests brought her. Until the early 1900's, molasses vied with sugar and maple syrup as the sweetener of choice. It was only after World War I, when sugar prices plummeted, that molasses and maple syrup took a back seat to sugar as popular sweeteners.


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