Admit it: if you could just eat cake for the rest of your day without gaining a pound, you would be eating this cake. The internet is teeming with “healthy” alternatives to ingredients like sugar, but how many are actually healthy and which are simply healthier? Molasses is often touted as a sweet substitute.
So let’s dive deeper and find out what is really going on.
First, let’s see how molasses stacks up against granulated sugar in terms of nutritional value.
The FDA sets Recommended Daily Values (DV) for various nutrients, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central gives us the nutritional data we need to compare the two.
One teaspoon of molasses weighs about 20 grams. As you will soon see, most regular recipes call for 4 or 5 tablespoons. So use 100g molasses vs. 100g sugar as a rough guideline:
Good to know. But what does it all mean in real life? What does science say about the health benefits of swapping sugar for molasses?
In molasses you will find the minerals iron, selenium, copper and calcium. According to a 2016 review, getting enough iron, selenium, and copper can help prevent deficiency and keep your bones stable. And if you get enough calcium, you can maintain bone strength in the fall.
But if that sounds good on paper, don’t start gobbling up molasses by cups just yet.
There are many other sources of these valuable nutrients that are better for you overall. Molasses could serve as a * slightly * more nutritious alternative sweetener to white sugar. But it’s not healthy in the sense of kale or lettuce.
Potassium helps you protect your heart health and strengthen your blood vessels against strokes. And molasses is a surprisingly good source (31.1 percent of your DV is quite a chunk).
But even this is only compared to sugar. A banana will probably do you more good than a spoonful of the sweet stuff.
Previous research has linked molasses to higher levels of HDL, or “good” cholesterol, another potential boost to heart health. Don’t get too excited, however – this study was conducted in rats in 2005. In fact, a lot of research on molasses health benefits has focused on its effects on farm animals.
For example, we know molasses is good for helping baby goats grow tall and healthy. However, be pretty skeptical about someone prescribing it to your own children – the science just isn’t there to support its use in cholesterol management.
If you live with diabetes or have trouble controlling your blood sugar levels, using sugar to control sugar may not be your best choice. The doctor or health professional overseeing your diabetes treatment should be your first port of call.
But a 2016 randomized controlled trial compared the insulin response of healthy participants after consuming 5 meals – one group ate meals made with a placebo syrup while the other ate meals made with molasses concentrate. The molasses-eating group showed lower insulin responses than the placebo group.
Yes, the results are promising and the study design is solid. But the molasses in this experiment was a concentrate, so consuming your usual supermarket molasses may not have the same effects. And the study didn’t test its effects on people with diabetes, so the results could be significantly different.
Molasses is still added to sugar in your diet. So be careful about including it in your meals, especially if your blood sugar is usually difficult to control.
Let’s end with a health benefit that is consistently positive. In 2009, a study found that molasses had higher levels of antioxidants than sugar and other alternative sweeteners like honey. Antioxidants have links to many health benefits, including:
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve discovered a topic that runs through our roundup of molasses health benefits: it’s better for you than granulated sugar, but that doesn’t say much.
While there have been no reports of serious molasses side effects, consuming too much still carries some risks:
- Digestive problems, including diarrhea, can occur when you go overboard.
- Diabetes symptoms can get worse.
- Frequent sugar crashes can affect your mood.
However, if you eat molasses in moderation you should be fine.
Most of the molasses bought in the store comes from sugar cane or sugar beet. People who make molasses cook that shit into syrup. As soon as the sugar crystals separate, they leave a dark liquid behind. And that, friends, is the molasses.
The manufacturers repeat this cooking process three times. Each time it produces a different type of molasses.
Cooking 1: Light molasses
The first time it is boiled, light molasses is produced. This is the lightest and sweetest type – the one most commonly used in all types of cooking. From sauces and marinades to crusty bread and squid biscuits, light molasses is a remarkably versatile ingredient.
Cooking 2: Dark Molasses
The second time you cook it, you get dark molasses. It is thicker and darker than light molasses, and also a little less sweet and stronger in taste. The difference between light and dark molasses depends on personal taste. Dark molasses creates foods with a richer taste.
Wannabe bakers usually use dark molasses for gingerbread cookies, but most cookies use the light colored stuff.
Cooking 3: Blackstrap Molasses
So what’s the difference between dark molasses and black molasses? Which is healthier?
Well, blackstrap molasses comes from the third and final boil. It is the thickest, darkest and strongest in taste. It is also light in nutritional value and retains more vitamins and minerals than dark molasses.
However, the bitter taste of molasses is too much for many people. It’s a lot less sweet, which means most peeps use it in savory dishes. It’s best not to trade Blackstrap if the recipe calls for dark molasses unless you know what you’re doing.
Honorable Mentions: Syrup and Sorghum
You can see the old Mee-Maw recipes that call for syrup and molasses interchangeably, but they are very different these days. Modern syrup is a mixture of molasses, syrup and color additives. If you have syrup in your cupboard, check your recipe and see if it works as a molasses alternative.
Sorghum, on the other hand, comes from cereal grains rather than sugar cane or beets. While it’s prepared the same way, molasses is definitely not. If you end up using sorghum as a substitute, add roughly half the amount indicated in the recipe.
Unsulphured or Sulphured Molasses: What’s the Difference?
Some manufacturers treat molasses with sulfur dioxide to make them last longer. However, this preservative also leaves a bitter taste in the product. If you cook sweeter things, make sure that the molasses you use is unsulphurized.
Here are three easy recipes using your new favorite sugar alternative. Sweets, savory biscuits, side dishes; This handy ingredient comes in handy in some very surprising places.
Baked beans with molasses and bacon
A drooling companion to burgers and hot dogs for summer barbecues.
To make it possible:
- Dip the beans in water and let them soak overnight.
- When it’s time to cook, cook the beans first.
- Separate the beans from the boiling water with a sieve or sieve.
- Preheat your oven to 163 ° C (325 ° F).
- Put the beans, onion and bacon in a saucepan and mix.
- Mix the molasses, brown sugar, salt, mustard, and pepper with 1 cup of boiling water; Pour this mixture into the saucepan and stir.
- Add more boiled water, just enough to almost submerge the bean mixture.
- Cover the saucepan and bake for 4 to 5 hours. Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary, until the beans are nice and tender.
Gigantic ginger biscuits
Crunchy, delicious cookies big enough to seriously satisfy.
The beauty is in how easy these cookies are to make:
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and spices together.
- Beat butter, brown sugar and regular sugar until creamy until frothy.
- Beat your molasses and egg in the cream.
- Stir in your whipped flour mixture.
- Flatten the contents of the bowl into a slice and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350 ° F (176 ° C).
- Divide the dough into 20 balls and roll each one in the remaining sugar.
- Place your sugary balls on a baking sheet and flatten them with the bottom of a glass.
- Stop laughing at “sugary balls”.
- Sprinkle a little more sugar on the biscuits.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Place your biscuits on a wire rack to cool.
Molasses black bread
Try the beans – it’s a simple but tasty bread recipe for beginners.
The entire process takes about 3 hours:
- Dissolve the sugar in the cup with warm water, then sprinkle over the yeast and let it steep for 10 minutes.
- Mix the molasses, oatmeal, butter and salt.
- Add the cup of boiling water, beat on top, then add the cup of cold water.
- After the 10 minutes are up, stir in your yeast mixture.
- Slowly add your flour and knead the resulting dough.
- Halve the dough between two well-greased baking tins.
- Cover each pan with a tea towel and place in a warm place to rise for 90 minutes.
- Once the contents of each pan have nearly doubled, bake at 350 ° F (176 ° C) for an hour.
- Take out of the oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes.
If you’re trying to make small lifestyle changes here and there to reduce sugar in your diet, molasses might be worth a look.
But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s the next great healthy food item and don’t overdo it with these giant ginger biscuits.