Treacle (Molasses)

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

The one sweetener whose mineral content is genuinely worth mentioning. It is still 69% sugar.

Stage by stage

Bitterness (Taste): The dark, bitter notes are the non-sugar fraction that concentrated as the crystals came out.
Non-haem iron (Duodenum): 6.96 mg per 100 g, but the poorly absorbed form — 2 to 20% depending on the meal.
Potassium (Circulation): 1,465 mg per 100 g, high enough to matter in advanced kidney disease.
Free sugar (Liver): 69.2 g per 100 g, which is what the minerals arrive attached to.

Timing

The iron is non-haem, so it absorbs better with vitamin C in the meal and considerably worse with tea or coffee.

Time to effect

15–30 min: Glycaemic peak.
Per 20 g: About 1.4 mg iron, 293 mg potassium, and 14 g of free sugar.

Allergens

Contains: Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Environmental footprint

3.2 kg CO2e and 202 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Cane sugar" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

Mid — roughly £9 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 268
Protein: 0.6g
Carbohydrate: 69.2g
of which sugars: 69.2g
Fibre: 0.4g
Sodium: 66mg

Food vs. supplement

Treacle is the best test of whether "has minerals in it" is a useful reason to prefer a sugar. The minerals are real and unusually high — and you would need to eat 69 g of sugar to collect them, which is the answer.

Kitchen tip

If you are using it for the iron, do not. If you are using it for gingerbread, it is exactly right and the minerals are a small bonus.

Common myth

“Blackstrap molasses is a good way to get iron.” In reality: It has the most iron of any sweetener — 6.96 mg per 100 g — and it is non-haem iron, absorbed at anywhere from 2 to 20%. A tablespoon gives about 1.4 mg alongside 14 g of free sugar. If iron is genuinely the problem, that needs a blood test and proper repletion, not a syrup. As a gingerbread ingredient with an unusually good mineral profile, it is exactly what it looks like.

In the glossary

Absorption