Light treacle
Golden syrup's characteristic amber color
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| Alternative names | Light Treacle |
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| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Main ingredients | Refined Sugar Cane or Sugar Beet juice |
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Golden syrup or light treacle is a thick, amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup made in the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance similar to honey and is often used as a substitute where honey is unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Many vegans also use it as a honey substitute.
It is not to be confused with amber corn syrup or amber molasses. Regular molasses, or dark treacle, is both richer in colour and has a strong, distinctive flavour.
The sugar cane refining process produced a treacle-like syrup that usually went to waste. In 1883, Charles Eastick, a chemist at the Abram Lyle & Sons (now part of Tate & Lyle) refinery in Plaistow formulated how it could be refined to make a preserve and sweetener for cooking. The resulting product was marketed commercially in 1885 as "golden syrup". However, the name 'golden syrup' in connection with molasses occurs as early as 1840 in an Adelaide newspaper, the South Australian.
The tin bears a picture of the rotting carcass of a lion with a swarm of bees and the slogan "Out of the strong came forth sweetness". This is a reference to the Biblical story in chapter 14 of the Book of Judges in which Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines in search of a wife. During the journey he killed a lion, and when he passed the same spot on his return he noticed that a swarm of bees had formed a comb of honey in the carcass. Samson later turned this into a riddle at a wedding: "Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness". While it is not known exactly why this image and slogan were chosen, Abram Lyle was a deeply religious man, and it has been suggested that they refer either to the strength of the Lyle company or the tins in which golden syrup is sold. In 1904 they were registered together as a trademark, and in 2006 Guinness World Records declared the mark to be Britain's oldest brand. Lyle's golden syrup was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1911.
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