[Sca-cooks] food in season and how to cook it (was OLD thread )

[Decker, Terry D.]

Molasses is a by-product of sugar refining.  Brown sugar was produced in
period by not fully refining the sugar thus leaving some of the molasses in
the sugar (if you want the modern equivalent look for peloncillo).  Modern
brown sugar usually fully refines the sugar, then reintroduces the molasses.
Both white and brown sugar were known and used within period.

What was probably rarer was the molasses itself, because sugar was easier to
transport and produced higher returns.  I did run across a period(?)
reference to brown treacle while looking for something else and I'm trying
to remember where I found it.

Bear

> However, the brown sugar that we now use is made with
> molasses, isn't it?  And
> therefore would not have been known in period?
>
> Kiri