What is treacle used for

Treacle recipes Treacle is the British term for uncrystallised dark syrup, known as dark or blackstrap molasses elsewhere. Nigella's sticky toffee pudding. More treacle recipes. Featured All. Gingerbread man Christmas cake by Frances Quinn. Christmas cake present by Frances Quinn. Christmas pudding cake by Frances Quinn. Nigella's sticky toffee pudding by Nigella Lawson. Boston baked beans with bacon by The Hairy Bikers.

Wholemeal bread by Sarah Cook. What makes this recipe special is that, with the exception of a little mace and cinnamon, all the flavour comes from the treacle. We are going for a rare Lee double dip because his recipe for beremeal treacle soda bread deserves to be mentioned. Hopefully, lockdown taught you how quick and easy it is to knock up soda bread, but this is a slightly more involved version. First, it is made with beremeal, a grain milled only in Orkney that is almost impossible to find in supermarkets you can get it online.

It is sweetened with a mixture of honey and treacle, the latter lending the finished product a husky darkness. As with all soda breads, this is best eaten fresh from the oven. It was thought to be an antidote for poison and snakebites, among other ailments. It's made with the uncrystallized syrup that remains after sugar is refined. Black treacle is a thick, dark, sugar syrup containing sugarcane molasses to create a somewhat bitter flavor. The term "treacle" is used generally to describe uncrystallized syrup in Brittain and typically refers to the dark syrup.

However, "light treacle" has been adopted when referring to golden syrup, another staple in British cooking. It's also a product of sugar refining, has a honey-like color and is much sweeter than black treacle. They can be used directly out of the tin and tend to be more expensive than other syrups. 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.

Black treacle is a blend of cane molasses and invert sugar syrup. Though it's similar to pure molasses, black treacle is generally described as a slightly burnt, bitter version of molasses. Interestingly, many dictionary entries for black treacle simply list "molasses" as one of the entries. In the early s, treacle was used as a meat preservative in a similar manner to salt preservation. Today, it's primarily a liquid sweetener, used in baked goods, desserts, and sweet sauces.

You can also add it to glazes and marinades for fish or meat. Some people use it to brew beer or mix it into drinks such as tea or cocktails like the traditional "mahogany" two parts Plymouth Gin, one part black treacle.

Black treacle is used directly out of the tin and added to the recipe. Some even describe the taste as inky and slightly salty. If you've ever made caramel, you will know that as sugar melts, it goes from light amber all the way to very dark before it burns. Think of the difference between golden syrup and black treacle along that same spectrum, and you can easily imagine the difference in flavor.

Because the flavor is so intense, black treacle is generally used in smaller quantities than golden syrup; in other words, a little black treacle goes a very long way. Though he uses blackstrap molasses, you could easily substitute black treacle for a similarly complex, deep, delicious flavor.

Many American recipes with treacle in the title, such as this Treacle Brown Bread , call for molasses in place of the traditional British sweetener, which can be hard to track down in the States. Use golden syrup light treacle in place of light corn syrup, honey, or standard molasses, and black treacle in place of blackstrap molasses.