The most nutrient-dense sweetener that exists — while white sugar provides zero nutrition, blackstrap molasses retains all the minerals from the sugar cane: iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, and B6. One tablespoon provides 20% DV iron and 10% DV calcium. The lowest glycemic sweetener (GI 55 vs white sugar's 65) that still delivers sweetness.
Blackstrap molasses is Black Southern food memory — grandmothers put it on biscuits, in their morning coffee, in their 'iron tonic' drinks. APEX reveals that grandmother's iron tonic was more evidence-based than any supplement she could have bought. The enslaved people who survived on molasses were accessing the nutrients stripped out of the sugar they made for others.
Blackstrap molasses delivers iron at concentrations that rival iron supplements — 3.6mg per tablespoon, non-heme iron enhanced by the acidic environment of molasses (organic acids improve non-heme iron absorption). The calcium density rivals dairy. For the 70%+ lactose-intolerant Black American population using blackstrap molasses as a sweetener is simultaneously a calcium supplement. Potassium at 730mg per tablespoon is among the highest of any food per serving.
Available at most grocery stores as 'Grandma's Molasses' or 'Plantation Molasses' (unsulfured blackstrap). Add 1 tbsp to morning coffee, smoothies, oatmeal, or baked goods. Mix with warm water and ginger as a morning tonic. Use as sweetener in cooking — BBQ sauce, baked beans, gingerbread. The taste is strong and bitter-sweet — an acquired taste worth acquiring.
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