The season of MOLASSES

Molasses is around all year long and it would behoove us to consume it all year long. However the flavor and spices accompanying it are attributed to fond memories of the holidays, snow, presents and festive cheer. I'm here to give you a reason to indulge in gingerbreads this year. Why? Because gingerbread has a lot of molasses and molasses has a lot of health benefits! 


What is it? Slow as molasses...Blackstrap molasses is one type of molasses and has the most benefits. It's the dark liquid byproduct of the process of refining sugar cane into table sugar. While it is a sweetener, it has a lot of minerals in it (unlike white sugar, corn syrup and artificial sugars which are stripped of any possible nutrients leaving you with sugar carbs that can turn to fat). Read on to learn about health benefits...

A Spoonful of Molasses Helps Your Calcium Needs Go Down: Blackstrap molasses is a very good source of calcium. Two teaspoons of blackstrap molasses will meet 11.8% of your daily needs for calcium. 

It's high in magnesium! Insufficient magnesium can thus contribute to high blood pressure, muscle spasms (including spasms of the heart muscle or the spasms of the airways symptomatic of asthma), and migraine headaches, as well as muscle cramps, tension, soreness and fatigue. In two teaspoons of blackstrap molasses, you will receive 7.3% of the daily value for magnesium.

Molasses is also an excellent source of copper and manganese and a very good source of potassium, and magnesium. Two teaspoons of blackstrap molasses will supply you with 14.0% of the daily recommended value for copper. That same amount of blackstrap molasses will also provide you with 18.0% of the day's needs for manganese. 

Molasses is a great source of iron which can increase your energy. Just 2 teaspoons of blackstrap molasses will sweetly provide you with 13.3% of the daily recommended value for iron.

When potassium is deficient in the diet, activity of both muscles and nerves can become compromised. Potassium is an especially important mineral for atheletes since it is involved in carbohydrate storage for use by muscles as fuel and is also important in maintaining the body's proper electrolyte and acid-base (pH) balance. When potassium levels drop too low, muscles get weak, and athletes tire more easily during exercise, as potassium deficiency causes a decrease in glycogen (the fuel used by exercising muscles) storage. Simply by adding two teaspoons of blackstrap molasses to your daily diet, you can supply 9.7% of your potassium needs for the day along with a healthy dose of carbohydrates to burn.

How to get molasses into your diet: 

Easily add it to smoothies, salad dressings, use it as glaze on meats, some say add to coffee? (ew)

Check out my gingerbread muffin recipe!

Rich brownies

Healthy Molasses cookies

*For more detailed information click here to read the full article from WHFoods*