# How Does Molasses Kill People? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073 "2004-06-01T15:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/21 "2004-06-02T05:09:55Z")
Actually, I just checked the dictionary (why I didn’t do that before, I couldn’t tell you), and treacle is in fact the same as molasses…just British English terminology. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/22 "2004-06-02T05:13:17Z")
Problem solved then. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/23 "2004-06-02T05:36:57Z")
No treacle is different from molasses. Treacle is a heavier version of golden syrup. You start of with high sucrose and hydrolyse to the invert sugars with invertase or an acid. Molasses is different - it is just the left over from refining that you can’t do much else with other than baste ham or feed to stock. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/24 "2004-06-02T05:38:15Z")
In fact: No\*\*,\*\* treacle is different from molasses. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/25 "2004-06-02T05:40:12Z")
[What is British Treacle?](http://www.ochef.com/316.htm) > [@](#): > > The second boiling produces a much darker syrup, which British cooks call treacle and we call molasses (or dark molasses). I’ve tasted both (in the UK and US), but not side-by-side. From my recollection, they taste the same. Golden syrup, however, is different. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/26 "2004-06-02T05:42:15Z")
Reading further, it sounds to me like you’re thinking of blackstrap molasses: > [@](#): > > The third boiling produces what we both apparently call blackstrap molasses, which is very dark and somewhat bitter and which health-food advocates think is heaven on earth, although it is more often used to feed cattle We don’t use this in cooking, and when people say molasses in the US, they are referring to dark molasses, or what you guys call treacle. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/27 "2004-06-02T06:25:10Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > No treacle is different from molasses. Treacle is a heavier version of golden syrup. You start of with high sucrose and hydrolyse to the invert sugars with invertase or an acid. > > Molasses is different - it is just the left over from refining that you can’t do much else with other than baste ham or feed to stock. You can stir it up into a glass of milk. Yummy. I suppose if you unleashed lots and lots of milk with molasses stirred into it all at once, you could drown a few people, too. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/28 "2004-06-02T06:29:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Reading further, it sounds to me like you’re thinking of blackstrap molasses: > > We don’t use this in cooking, and when people say molasses in the US, they are referring to dark molasses, or what you guys call treacle. Well either British treacle is different in Britain than Australia or that cite it wrong or I am wrong. Let’s discount case 3. Your cite is saying that British treacle is a lighter version of molasses. In Australia treacle is a heavier version of golden syrup. However, it looks like molasses is molasses where ever you are. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/29 "2004-06-02T06:35:15Z")
Death by molasses? Do dreams where you get stuck in the middle of the street while a bus is careening toward you count? I used to have them all the time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/30 "2004-06-02T06:37:35Z")
I am willing to beleive that there was a Molasses Flood that killed a score of dudes. But having one in Boston (1915), another in Missisipi (1932) and yet another back in Boston (1919) all of which killed exactly 21 guys… this strains my credulity. :eek: :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/31 "2004-06-02T07:03:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Your cite is saying that British treacle is a lighter version of molasses. In Australia treacle is a heavier version of golden syrup. No. It’s saying that light treacle is golden syrup, and dark treacle/black treacle is what Americans call molasses. All the sites I’ve found say that treacle is equivalent to molasses, and the treacle I’ve had is as dark as its American counterpart and tastes pretty much the same. (Americans do not have a product called treacle – at least not in anything resembling popular use.) Perhaps there is a minute difference, but I can’t figure out what it is, and the cooking sites and dictionaries seem to agree with me. For all practical purposes, they are one and the same. But if there is a difference, I would like to know. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/32 "2004-06-02T07:25:29Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > No. It’s saying that light treacle is golden syrup, and dark treacle/black treacle is what Americans call molasses. All the sites I’ve found say that treacle is equivalent to molasses, and the treacle I’ve had is as dark as its American counterpart and tastes pretty much the same. (Americans do not have a product called treacle – at least not in anything resembling popular use.) Perhaps there is a minute difference, but I can’t figure out what it is, and the cooking sites and dictionaries seem to agree with me. For all practical purposes, they are one and the same. > > But if there is a difference, I would like to know. > [@earlier cite](#): > > Technically treacle is a generic word in Britain for any syrup made in the process of refining sugar cane, and it can range from very light to very dark. In practice, the lighter syrup which is produced when the sugar cane juice is first boiled, is called light treacle or golden syrup. > > The second boiling produces a much darker syrup, which British cooks call treacle and we call molasses (or dark molasses). The third boiling produces what we both apparently call blackstrap molasses, which is very dark and somewhat bitter and which health-food advocates think is heaven on earth, although it is more often used to feed cattle. OK. First, they are saying here that golden syrup and treacle and molasses and blackstrap molasses are all remnants of the boiling and crystallisation process. There are several iteration of which give a progressively heavier syrup. Now go back and re-read my earlier post: > [@antechinus](#): > > Treacle is a heavier version of golden syrup. You start of with high sucrose and hydrolyse to the invert sugars with invertase or an acid. I am saying that golden syrup and treacle are made by inverting sucrose syrups and cooking them up a bit - in Australia anyway. That is the difference. I can’t speak for how it is done elsewhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/33 "2004-06-02T07:48:28Z")
Gotcha… I missed that post. From looking further, it also seems that what’s known as molasses in Australia is different than what’s commonly known as molasses in the US. Actually, I didn’t even know molasses existed in the British-English speaking world until this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/34 "2004-06-02T09:56:19Z")
It’s just a great big learn-fest isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/35 "2004-06-02T12:40:58Z")
I have always wondered what Treacle was and have always forgotten to look it up. I always thought it was a made up thing, something to do with sorcery or something. Fire, brimstone, treacle. I am a moran, what can I say. Back to the OP. [gingerbread man] Do you know the muffin man? [/gingerbread man] ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/36 "2004-06-02T12:58:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I am willing to beleive that there was a Molasses Flood that killed a score of dudes. But having one in Boston (1915), another in Missisipi (1932) and yet another back in Boston (1919) all of which killed exactly 21 guys… this strains my credulity. :eek: :dubious: To the best of my knowledge, there was no 1915 Boston molasses flood. The flood occurred [January 15, 1919](http://www.mv.com/ipusers/arcade/molasses.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/37 "2004-06-02T14:06:24Z")
I think that URL deserves the award for most copy-linked site in a thread 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/38 "2004-06-02T15:02:14Z")
> [@Trigonal Planar](#): > > I think that URL deserves the award for most copy-linked site in a thread 😃 [This one](http://www.mv.com/ipusers/arcade/molasses.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/39 "2004-06-02T16:14:38Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#): > > To the best of my knowledge, there was no 1915 Boston molasses flood. The flood occurred [January 15, 1919](http://www.mv.com/ipusers/arcade/molasses.htm) My mistake, I typed 1915 instead of 1919, probably my eye lingered on the Jan 15 date. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073/40 "2004-06-02T18:27:29Z")
Ahhh, they’re 1910’s-style “Death Floods”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-molasses-kill-people/248073.md?page=3)