sorghum/molasses how old is okay?

[partndn]

My mom and daddy recently made a trip down to paternal relatives in Ga. Lucky for me, mom helped my aunt do some tidying up in the basement and came back with some empty canning jars for me. Yay!

They also culled two jars of stuff - who knows how old?! One is obviously labeled pepper jelly. The lid is still down. But it's an awfully dark color. Will open it for curiosity at some point and see the condition.

Anyway, the other jar is not identified. It appears to be molasses. I'm only guessing since it is kinda "fluid." Not in a bad way, like separated stuff. But in comparison to sorghum syrup I'm used to which requires a hot water bath just to get moving.

I have never been that big a maple syrup fan or molasses either. Only reason is I grew up with sorghum syrup and that's the taste and consistency I was accustomed to. But if it's molasses and nothing wrong with it, I will certainly use it.

I haven't tasted it. Would you be worried to give it a taste? There is nothing suspicious about the color or smell or anything. Fyi the lid was NOT down. But that doesn't matter with molasses does it? Honestly, this stuff coule easily be 10-20 years old. Just no way to know. Beloved aunts and uncles are now all 80-95 years old.

[CarolT]

Food storage guides I found say 2 years for molasses. However, we know they always cut it short to be on the safe side. Apparently the sugars ferment. Maybe use it for cooking?

Another I found says it'll smell "yeasty" if it's fermented, so if it smells ok, I guess go for it :-)

[texican]

I've got a bucket of molasses over 30 years old... still molasses. Sugar doesn't go bad, and molasses is about as close as you can get to sugar. I've spooned the mold off of molasses before, and ate the rest.

The stuff just gets stronger with age...

[Wisconsin Ann]

I agree with Texican. Molasses just doesn't go bad. If it's "bad", it's rum. It ferments if given yeast and water, like all sugars will.

Next time you make a pot of baked beans, throw some into it gives a lovely deep sweet flavor. Or bread...wheat flour+rye flour+yeast+molasses and you've got some MIGHTY tasty bread.

[partndn]

Thank you all!!

I'm not gonna eat it with biscuits or cornbread like I would sorghum. But I do like it in baked beans and could use it up just with that.

I will also give a bread recipe a whirl with it.

I am sure from the good color and normal smell that it is not fermented.

Yippee, free score!

By the way... can anyone tell me the main difference between sorghum and molasses? I've never made either one. My 85 year old daddy remembers "cooking" the sorghum with his papaw, but not much else.

Ya know.. there mighta been several possibilities "cookin" back in that time, KWIM.

[tinknal]

I believe that both are molasses, one is made from cane sorghum, and the other is made from sugar cane.