I admit I have a negative association with molasses (that it’s bad-tasting or overly sweet/”chemical” tasting…or both) and so I also appreciate Jim’s comment, above and am curious to hear back what he says.

Sure, I could do the research, but somehow it’s more fun to pose the Q to a group and get the collective wisdom. Dontcha think?

I find the cultural stories the most interesting–the “how things got to be this way”. Like WHY people switched from molasses to refined sugar. And what did they use before molasses? Maybe it’s anthropology? For me it dispels some cooking “myths” and makes recipes “understandable”, if that makes any sense.

I tend to use honey as a sweetener these days since I enjoy SOME sweetness in my food–a “natural” sweet–but not what I call “American sweet”, which is much sweeter than “European sweet”. I guess that’s the result of growing up on both sides of The Pond? Which reminds me, Patricia, would you share some of your fave Korean recipes with us that we could actually make? (i.e. kimchi w/o having to bury in the ground for months in a clay pot). Korean is my ab-fave food and it’s more fun to make a recipe from someone I “know” than from a cookbook… :-)

Oh, and any chance you would consider streaming you cooking on U-Stream so we can watch and/or cook WITH you? Kind of like a “Cook Along with Patricia”? Subscription rates? (Might be a new biz model?)