MOLASSES, ANYONE?

I can't imagine running a kitchen without this honorable old staple. I somehow remember back in Momma's time it might have been "Lasses" Molasses" with an image of a Highland dancer, but I could be wrong. Someone will correct me.

It has gotten to be a whopper of a price, whether it's 'Lasses or Crosby's, up to $8.00 for the large size, but that's immaterial to me. I can waste lots of money in lots of ways, but I don't consider this as frivolous, and I keep a couple of these bad boys on hand at all times.

I remember my friend June telling me about how her Dad would keep a jar of molasses in the cupboard and take a spoonful or two on his way to the barn every day. He knew that molasses was high in energy, and he needed that to keep up with the busy demands of farming. Very wise man. He was handsome too.

I remember as a kid, how Momma used all kinds of tricks to make food interesting, and last as long as possible. Is molasses full of sugar, well yes, read the label, but that wasn't important when she was feeding a bunch of kids.

She would put a saucepan ( or as she'd call it, a dipper, in her day) on the back of the trusty woodstove, pour some molasses in, and add a junk of butter. While biscuits were baking, that pot would be foaming, rustling up the most delicious dipping sauce ever! I always said she was country before country was cool!

She would turn the pan of hot flaky biscuits out on a tea towel, we'd each grab one, and she would set a little dish of the hot molasses treat down, and elbows would be flying!! Oh my lord, what simple pleasures. That was as good as steak to us, it tasted so good. Momma was a whiz. Or was she just a supreme manipulator, cleverly tricking us into believing we had it easy.....after all, Momma was country before country was cool, remember?

A taffy pull anyone? Isn't molasses a major ingredient? I've never had the pleasure (or the mess) of such an event, but I have a hell of an imagination.

When I worked at the Johnson Shore Inn a number of years ago, I sometimes did a few hours at the Distillery for the girls, and what a learning experience that was for such a teetotaler as I. Seeing how those beautiful alcoholic bevvies are actually made is extremely interesting. I was put to baking their Prince Edward "Merchantman" Rum Cakes for them, a premium product using a premium product, they couldn't fail. I could make up to twenty or so in a day and I loved being left alone to focus on it in their big commercial kitchen. So rewarding. Talk about being in my element! They would leave that lovely dark rum in a twenty litre vat in the kitchen for me, with absolutely no fear of coming home to find me drunk as a skunk in front of the enormous fireplace, or passed out in one of the beds. I never drank a drop, I don't like the taste, but I know a good product when I smell it.

When Julie fired up the still to start the rum, molasses from Guatamala was delivered in tanks. It was fermented for a specific time before distilling, and even when driving up the long dirt lane I could pinpoint the most AMAZING smell coming from the direction of the Distillery.......Molasses Cookies!! For all the world, it smelled just like a bakery. Now, how could you not like that?

In our modern world of convenience and additives in our foods that defy definition or understanding, how cool is it that molasses has one ingredient: molasses. And I notice now that the country of origin is indeed Guatamala. Thank you, Mr. Crosby, for your beautiful product.

Delicious smeared on a bikkie, yes. Dripped on to a slice of fresh soft homemade bread, oh my. And running off a roll as it's dragged through a puddle of the dark sweet goodness, yes pleeeeeease.

What would baked beans be without a healthy dollap of molasses? Well, thin and pale, and who wants that combination. I add maple syrup to my beans as well, but if I don't have molasses on hand, well, hold on, let's not get crazy......of course I would have it on hand. But if hell ever freezes over, the Pope isn't in Rome, or a bear shits in the rink, well, I probably wouldn't be making beans either, because there'd be just as good a chance I don't have molasses.

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I made a batch of my favorite Soft Molasses Cookies this afternoon, and I decided to have one with a nice hot cup of tea, it sure hits the spot. Jamie always liked to dunk these in his tea; he'd spread a cookie with butter, then dunk it. Oh my god, gross. Then he taught the kids to dunk in their milk. Trust me, someone else was washing the dishes that day, I couldn't stand the look of their dishes.

Jamie had a feed before he left for cards, and we both love the spicy taste of these old fashioned cookies. Of course I have to liven the recipe up with the addition of cloves, I can't see the harm.......And before you ask, I'm adding the recipe. Please excuse the messy page, but really, who can trust a pristine cookbook? Or a skinny cook?

Just asking for a friend.....