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Purified Syrup of Molasses

A thick syrup made by boiling molasses with charcoal and water, then filtering and evaporating to original consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Purified Syrup of Molasses

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the molasses, charcoal, and water together over a slow fire.

  2. Stir the mixture and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

  3. Decant the mixture into a deep vessel and let the charcoal settle.

  4. Pour off the liquid and return it to the fire to evaporate excess water.

  5. Continue until the syrup reaches its original consistency.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the main sugars, flavor, and dark color of the syrup.
Charcoal
Adsorbs impurities and pigments as it is boiled, then settles out so the liquid can be poured off.
Water
Dissolves the molasses and carries the charcoal, and is later evaporated to restore thickness.

The step that matters

Letting the charcoal settle before pouring off. If the mixture is poured off before the charcoal has settled, fine charcoal particles stay in the liquid and cloud the syrup. Settling in a deep vessel lets the particles sink so the clear liquid can be separated.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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