Definition

1. Noun:
   • A thick, dark, viscous syrup that is a byproduct of refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. It results from boiling the juice extracted from these plants to crystallize the sugar, leaving this residual liquid.

Usage

• Noun:
  • Molasses is primarily used as a sweetener in cooking and baking.
  • It is a key ingredient in traditional recipes like gingerbread, baked beans, and rum production.
  • The word is typically used with a singular verb, despite its "-es" ending (e.g., "Molasses is poured slowly").

Examples

• Noun:
  • The recipe calls for one cup of molasses to sweeten the gingerbread cookies.
  • Blackstrap molasses is a particularly dark and bitter type, rich in minerals.
  • The spill created a sticky pool of molasses on the kitchen floor.

Advanced Usage

• "Slow as molasses" (Idiom): Used to describe something or someone that moves or proceeds extremely slowly.
  • The traffic during rush hour was as slow as molasses.

Variants and Related Words

• Blackstrap molasses: A darker, more bitter, and nutritionally dense variant produced from the third boiling of the sugar syrup.
• Treacle: A British English term often used interchangeably with molasses, particularly the lighter varieties.

Synonyms

• Treacle (chiefly British English)

Related Phrases/Idioms

• "Slow as molasses": Extremely slow in movement or progress.
  • Without his morning coffee, he moves as slow as molasses.

Noun

1. thick dark syrup produced by boiling down juice from sugar cane; especially during sugar refining