Substitute For Treacle | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

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Substitute For Treacle | Ask Nigella.com? ›

Our answer

Molasses. Black treacle is often the British counterpart to North America's molasses. The two are similar in color and viscosity and used in the same way.

Golden syrup, also called bakers molasses or light treacle, has a golden colour and intensely sweet, butterscotch-like flavour. It is about 25 percent sweeter than regular sugar. ⁠ Treacle is a darker version of golden syrup and is sometimes called dark or black treacle.

The black treacle manufactured by Ragus is a mixture of refiner's syrup and molasses, resulting in a flavour that is like molasses but presents a smoother, softer and rounder taste. The molasses gives treacle its dark colour, distinct from other syrups, such as golden syrup.

Our answer

If you don't have treacle then you can use molasses as an alternative. We would not use extra sugar instead of the treacle as treacle is an invert sugar, which particularly helps to keep the cake moist.

More commonly known as treacle or black treacle or, in the US as blackstrap molasses, molasses are essentially what is left over after cane sugar is boiled to produce sugar and most of the sugar has been extracted.

Regular molasses can be used as a substitute for treacle, but blackstrap molasses can be very bitter and is not always a good substitute. It depends on your personal taste, as if you like the bitterness then you could use the blackstrap molasses.

Treacle (/ˈtriːkəl/) is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar. The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and black treacle, a darker variety similar to molasses. Black treacle has a distinctively strong, slightly bitter flavor, and a richer color than golden syrup.

Maple syrup is made from maple trees and the sugary liquid is reduced to syrup. Golden syrup is made from plants. Golden syrup or light treacle is a thick amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup made in the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid.

In the U.S., golden syrup is usually sold under the name of light treacle, but it's not readily available in many grocery stores. In cooking recipes, molasses and light treacle are often used interchangeably because their textures and flavor profiles are similar.

What is an English treacle? ›

Treacle is a by-product of the sugar refining process, it's what remains when sugar cane juice is boiled down to produce grains of sugar.

Lyles Black Treacle 454G - Tesco Groceries.

Treacle is a generic British term for any syrup made during the refining of sugar cane. Later, refined sugar became more affordable and overtook treacle as a sweetener. However, colonial Americans often substituted molasses for treacle in their recipes.

Black treacle is called Molasses in the U.S. We use it when making things like ginger bread or oatmeal bread.

Both molasses and treacle are byproducts of the sugar-refining process, though treacle is most commonly used in the United Kingdom. Treacle can be easily substituted for molasses, and vice versa, though the sweetness and consistency will be subtly different.

Treacle is also used in some savory applications, like for curing bacon or glazing meats, much the way molasses is included in American barbecue sauces. As its name implies, black treacle ($10.99, amazon.com) is much darker in color than light (golden) treacle.

Treacle is dark and black whilst golden syrup is lighter and golden coloured. Treacle will colour your baking black and give it a tarry flavour, whilst golden syrup will give it a sweet and sickly flavour, and won't colour it much. Generally you want golden syrup, treacle should be used for only a few items.

To most, black treacle is known as a slightly smoother version of molasses that some refer to as having a caramelised toffee taste. In industrial applications, black treacle is used as a liquid sweetener, natural colourant and flavouring for sauces, baked products, confectionery and desserts.