Molasses

Molasses, the dark syrup that is the by-product of sugar crystallisation, is a low-cost, nutrient-rich ingredient that has recently become highly sought after in the food, feed and fermentation industries. It is the substrate of choice for the production of ethanol, lactic acid, rum, baker's yeast, sophorolipids and biohydrogen when pretreatment is not used. Molasses is used in food processing where sugar-beet molasses is an effective osmotic agent for dehydrating fruits and vegetables at 45 ℃, increasing the dry-matter content of the produce five-fold and greatly increasing its storage life. It also replaces sucrose or honey as an additive in breads, cookies and gluten-free biscuits at a level of 5–25 % of the flour weight to improve texture, colour and mineral content while reducing costs.
In clinical and animal experiments, consumption of filtered sugarcane molasses concentrate has been shown to decrease post-prandial peaks of glucose and insulin in the blood by 5–20 % by a mechanism that includes intestinal inhibition of glucose transport, suggesting a natural means to lower the glycaemic index of carbohydrate-rich foods.

Fig. 1 The application of molasses.