Treacle
Treacle is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar.[1][2] The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and a darker variety known as black treacle. Black treacle, or molasses, has a distinctively strong, slightly bitter flavour, and a richer colour than golden syrup.[3] Golden syrup treacle is a common sweetener and condiment in British cookery, found in such dishes as treacle tart and treacle sponge pudding.
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Etymology[edit]
Historically, the Middle English term treacle was used by herbalists and apothecaries to describe a medicine (also called theriac or theriaca), composed of many ingredients, that was used as an antidote treatment for poisons, snakebites, and various other ailments.[2] Triacle comes from the Old French triacle, in turn from (unattested and reconstructed) Vulgar Latin triacula, which comes from Latin theriaca,[4] the latinisation of the Greek θηριακή (thēriakē), the feminine of θηριακός (thēriakos), "concerning venomous beasts",[5] which comes from θηρίον (thērion), "wild animal, beast".[6][7]
Production[edit]
Treacle is made from the syrup that remains after sugar is refined. Raw sugars are first treated in a process called affination. When dissolved, 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[clarification needed] 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 liquid by-product—treacle.[8]
In popular culture[edit]
A traditional Cornish fishermans' celebratory drink is 'Mahogany' made from 2 parts local gin - now usually Plymouth Gin- mixed with one part black treacle.[9][10][11]
In chapter 7 of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Dormouse tells a story of Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie living at the bottom of a well, which confuses Alice, who interrupts to ask. "The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then said, 'It was a treacle-well.'" This is an allusion to the so-called "treacle well", the curative St. Frideswide's Well at Binsey, Oxfordshire.[12]
See also[edit]
- Caramelization
- Treacle mining
- Treacle protein
- Treacle sponge pudding
- Venice treacle, also known as Treacle of Andromachus: see Theriac § Theriaca Andromachi Senioris
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ "Treacle Origins and Uses at www.recipes4us.co.uk".
- ^ a b Oxford Dictionary ISBN 978-1-85152-101-2
- ^ merriam-webster.com
- ^ theriacus, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus
- ^ θηριακός, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ θηρίον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ Treacle, on Oxford Dictionaries
- ^ Heriot p 392
- ^ http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-mahogany
- ^ http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2006/03/gin-brandy-beer-and-treacle.html
- ^ http://www.foodfromcornwall.co.uk/recipes/cornish-drinks/4
- ^ p14, Oxford in English literature: the making, and undoing, of "the English Athens" (1998), John Dougill, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 0-472-10784-4.
Notations[edit]
- Heriot, Thomas Hawkins Percy (1920). The manufacture of sugar from the cane and beet. London: Longmans, Green and co.
External links[edit]
- Old 'Recipes4us' page "Treacle Origin"
- CSR Sugar company of Australia – Treacle
- Sugar Australia website – refiner and marketer for CSR limited.
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