A Day That Sticks in the Minds of Bostonians

Jan. 15, 1919, isn’t a red letter date in the history of world disasters. No Hindenburg zeppelin exploded. No earthquake leveled a city. No factory released poisonous gas, slaying tens of thousands. Nonetheless, if you happened to have lived in Boston at the time, it was a day you would never forget. At 12:30 p.m., a thunderous crack resounded through the North End, the city’s Italian section. A moment later, the city was engulfed in a thick, brown, sticky, six-foot tidal wave of molasses.

Houses were swept off their foundations. Horses hitched to carriages never had a chance. Twenty-one people perished in what would later be called the Great Molasses Flood. Some suffocated, some outright drowned, some were swept into Boston Harbor. For six months, Bostonians scrubbed the sticky sweetener off cobblestone streets, out of movie theaters and phone booths, off their automobiles and, of course, off the soles of their shoes.

The event that triggered the cataclysmic flood was the collapse of a tank 50 feet tall that was filled with 2 1/2 million gallons of molasses. What’s more remarkable is that it didn’t happen sooner. At the turn of the century, there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of molasses warehouses in Boston and its suburbs. For Boston was America’s distilling capital. And the main ingredient in rum is molasses.

Molasses isn’t exactly what one could call a trendy ingredient these days. From the 17th Century to the 19th, however, it was America’s primary sweetener. It was used in all manner of cakes, cookies and cocktails, and especially for making rum. Brown bread and Indian pudding would be sorry stuff without it.

Molasses is a byproduct of the process of making sugar. The cane juice is boiled to evaporate the water. The thick, brown syrup that remains is separated into sugar and molasses. Sugar is merely sweet and devoid of any nutritional value. Molasses, on the other hand, has a rich, earthy, sweet-salty flavor, with traces of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, iron and vitamin B.

Molasses is deeply rooted in the American culinary tradition. It is one of the primary ingredients in Indian pudding, New England baked beans and Pennsylvania Dutch shoofly pie. It is often added to dark breads such as pumpernickel as a coloring agent and flavoring. Nineteenth Century Americans combined molasses with pork, a combination that survives in some modern barbecue sauces. “Must-go-down� was a traditional backwoods Maine dessert consisting of rye bread and corn bread crusts soaked with molasses and doused with cream.

Many people use molasses in desserts. Its rich, earthy, malty flavor makes it an attractive substitute for sugar, which is sweet but has no distinctive taste. But desserts are just the beginning. Rum, molasses and boiling water was a favorite Colonial beverage. The next time you’re bored with plain coffee, try adding a spoonful of molasses. The bitterness in molasses helps cut the richness and fat in pork, a combination that works well in baked beans and barbecued ribs. I like to add molasses to oatmeal and cream of wheat.

Health food buffs praise the nutritional value of molasses. It’s true that the dark, sticky sweetener contains far more vitamins and minerals than refined sugar. But, according to food science writer Harold McGee, one would have to eat 6 tablespoons of molasses to get the daily recommended dose of calcium and iron and more than 30 tablespoons molasses to get the daily recommended dose of vitamin B.

MOLASSES CAKE

3/4 cup hot water

1/3 cup rum

3/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup butter, melted, plus extra for pan

3/4 cup unsulphured molasses

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for pan

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon finely chopped candied ginger, optional

Powdered sugar for sprinkling, optional

This cake is a traditional French-Canadian dessert. I like to think of it as North Woods gingerbread. Molasses-flavored whipped cream or maple-nut ice cream would make a great accompaniment.

Combine hot water and rum in bowl. Add raisins and set aside to soften 20 minutes. Stir butter, molasses and eggs into raisin mixture.

Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and granulated sugar into large bowl. Add raisin mixture and candied ginger. Stir just to mix. Spoon batter into 9-inch cake pan that has been generously buttered and sprinkled with flour.

Bake at 350 degrees until firm and cooked, 40 to 50 minutes. (When done, inserted skewer will come out clean.) Let cake cool 5 minutes, then turn it out onto cake rack. Let cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Cut into wedges.

Makes 8 servings.