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To Improve the Flavor of Molasses

A method to enhance molasses flavor by boiling with water and charcoal.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Improve the Flavor of Molasses

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Measure the desired amount of molasses.

  2. Add an equal weight of soft, pure water to the molasses.

Clarify and thicken

  1. Boil the mixture with 1/8 part of powdered charcoal for 30 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture and let it evaporate slowly until it reaches the usual thickness of molasses.

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 dark color, sweetness and characteristic flavor that the finished enhancer is built on.
Powdered charcoal
Adsorbs colors and impurities during boiling, which are then removed when the mixture is strained.

The step that matters

Letting the mixture evaporate slowly after straining. Slow evaporation concentrates the molasses back to its usual thickness without scorching it. Heating too hard can darken and burn the sugars, changing the flavor.

“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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