Talk:Treacle

Latest comment: 4 years ago by 79.66.92.125 in topic Treacle vs. molasses

Treacle and Molasses edit

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
The result of this discussion was to Not Merge Wayne Jayes (talk) 19:11, 6 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

The folloing should be merged with the article on molasses

The term has been in use since the 17th century. Originally in England it referred to a medicinal antidote composed of many ingredients, including honey. Treacle and honey were used as medicines and to sweeten medicines before refined white cane sugar made its way to England for the first time in the 13th century.'

When sugar first arrived it was scarce and expensive. It slowly became more widely available and affordable to all people. Sugar then began to replace treacle in medicinal usages and by the 17th century it was a European food. Sugar also replaced honey in other uses such as a food preservative. It became easier and cheaper to use sugar to pack meat and sugar was also better at the task. Sugar was also easier to find than treacle and less work had to be done by the consumer to transport and maintain sugar.

This information is from the essay "Time, Sugar, and Sweetness" by Sidney W. Mintz.

An early version of Pop Goes the Weasel contains a reference to treacle.

--67.101.97.33 09:30, 23 August 2006 (UTC)Reply


I dont think treacle is either molasses or golden syrup

treacle; the residue from the second stage of crystallization of raw sugar, less bitter and viscous than molasses. an edible treacle is produced by filtering dilute molasses through cloth and charcoal.
See also Talk:Molasses. Treacle and Molasses are similar in composition in water and sucrose. However, they are traditionally by products of different areas of sugar production. Thus they have different other chemicals and thus taste. Molasses comes from the boiling of the cane pressing as the article states, and Treacle from the refining process. And the regarding of treacle as molasses in the U.S. is not universal. Treacle is availble from specialty stores or high-end markets, but not generally at large distribution supermarkets. Tate & Lyle seem to be the primary brand available, if at all in the U.S. See also:Heriot, Thomas Hawkins Percy (1920). The manufacture of sugar from the cane and beet. London: Longmans, Green and co. Group29 (talk) 21:20, 7 September 2009 (UTC)Reply
Yep. Citation would be needed, but my gut feeling on this is that "molasses" is definitely a US entity that doesn't crop up much either physically or etymologically in UK usage. Gordonofcartoon (talk) 02:15, 9 September 2009 (UTC)Reply
I see that on the Tate & Lyle web site, that they call Black Treacle #1 "Treacle / cane molasses with 63% min. sugars. " [1] Group29 (talk) 14:39, 12 September 2009 (UTC)Reply

I've added OED definitions to the Talk:Molasses page. Mebden (talk) 10:11, 17 April 2010 (UTC)Reply

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging edit

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Citation? edit

Treacle, sugary brown syrup, was widely-used herbs that served for many purposes. It was believed that it can cure internal swellings, fevers, unblock internal stoppages, alleviate heart problems, rid blemishes, improve digestion, induce sleep, strengthen limbs, heal wounds, remedy snake wounds, cure prolapsed uteruses and rid the plague. This was another smart invention of Galen, and it was combined with more than sixty ingredients such as roasted viper skins to formulate the potion. It involved forty days to mix and twelve years for the solution to mature before it could be used. [2]

[citation needed] Gordonofcartoon (talk) 19:35, 21 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

Production edit

I find the Production section confusing. After reading the sugarcane article's refining section and the cane sugar mill article I think I understand it better, the exception being at what stage and how the "dark-coloured washings" are produced or separated. With the proviso that this still requires explanation, is this re-write correct and does it make matters clearer:

"Treacle is made from syrups that remain after sugar is removed in its refining process. Raw sugars are first treated in a process called affination so that, when dissolved thereafter, the resulting liquor contains the minimum of dissolved non-sugars to be removed by treatment with activated carbon or bone char. The dark-coloured washings are treated separately, without carbon or bone char. They are boiled to grain (i.e. until sugar crystals precipitate out) in a vacuum pan, forming a low-grade massecuite (boiled mass) which is centrifuged, yielding a brown sugar and a fluid by-product—treacle." ?

This however, like the current version, doesn't make mention of the clarification with phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide. Does this need to be mentioned and does it shed light on the creation of the washings? Mutt Lunker (talk) 01:40, 3 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

link to Spanish wiki and v.v. edit

Regarding the recent linking to the Spanish article melaza and in reference to the edit summary, molasses is not the same as treacle in English but as far as I'm aware there is no differentiation in Spanish. This does however lead to both molasses and treacle linking to melaza but melaza only linking to molasses and not treacle. Not sure of a way around this... Mutt Lunker (talk) 07:39, 4 May 2011 (UTC)Reply

Popular Culture - Sarratt Treacle Mines edit

Okay, I am a complete novice with absolutely no understanding of how Wikipedia entries are compiled. However it seems odd that this article on Treacle which lead me to the Treacle Mining article has a number of paragraphs (all without preamble or explanation) on the joke about treacle mining headed, A History, in the Popular Culture section, while the Treacle Mining article (that's all about this joke) fails to mention Sarratt at all. Why is it even in the Treacle article, that's a simple factual food item article, when there's a separate section dealing with the "joke". It should maybe just have a mention here, under Popular Culture, and be fully written up in the Treacle Mining article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.64.132.182 (talk) 10:13, 24 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

I've replied over at Talk:Treacle_mining#Sarratt_Treacle_Mines  —SMALLJIM  11:34, 24 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

Asia treacle edit

On Feb13 2016, the following text was added without citation:

In Asia, Treacle is a food sweetening syrup made from the sap oozing from "tapped" blossoms of palm trees, particularly, Coconut (Cocos nucifera) or "Kithul" (Caryota urens). Treacle is a common ingredient across traditional sweets prepared for occasions, such as weddings and the Asian New Year festivities held in mid April.

This does not specify where in Asia this occurs, whether the English word "treacle" is used or if that is a translation of a local term, or if this actually refers to Jaggery. I've removed it from the main article but quoted it here so that it can be restored if someone finds a cite. Collabi (talk) 05:35, 2 March 2016 (UTC)Reply

nutrition info edit

Please add nutrition info - magnesium etc.-71.174.190.122 (talk) 17:20, 17 December 2016 (UTC)Reply

Pronunciation edit

It may seem needless to Brits who have heard the word more often but, e.g., these Americans imagine it to be something like "tree-ack-uhl" so I do think it's worth mentioning in the article, as well as the Wiktionary entry. — LlywelynII 11:35, 19 September 2017 (UTC)Reply

Treacle vs. molasses edit

Anybody who's used both as ingredients can tell you they are not the same. Treacle is much more bitter and more viscous than molasses - even blackstrap molasses. You can't substitute treacle for molasses in US recipes and substituting molasses for treacle in UK recipes will produce a different result. ('Treacle' is black treacle here.) I can't tell if the article is supposed to suggest they're the same, but it certainly does suggest that - as do other entries on syrups etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.66.92.125 (talk) 20:55, 19 January 2020 (UTC)Reply