Golden Syrup?

I was watching a British cooking show the other day and the Chef used something called Golden Syrup to make a butterscotch sauce. It looked like honey, but I am assuming it's some kind of caramelized simple syrup? I asked my British husband what it was and he said, it's like Treacle...well that helps...NOT . I was wondering if anyone is familar with this product, and if we can get it here in the US.

I was watching a British cooking show the other day and the Chef used something called Golden Syrup to make a butterscotch sauce. It looked like honey, but I am assuming it's some kind of caramelized simple syrup? I asked my British husband what it was and he said, it's like Treacle...well that helps...NOT . I was wondering if anyone is familar with this product, and if we can get it here in the US.

Sounds suspiciously like what I know as Karo syrup.

Technically treacle is a generic word in Britain for any syrup made in the process of refining sugar cane, and it can range from very light to very dark. In practice, the lighter syrup which is produced when the sugar cane juice is first boiled, is called light treacle or golden syrup.

The second boiling produces a much darker syrup, which British cooks call treacle (or dark treacle) and we call molasses (or dark molasses). The third boiling produces what we both apparently call blackstrap molasses, which is very dark and somewhat bitter, and which health-food advocates think is heaven on earth, although it is more often used to feed cattle.

If you don't want to track down the real British thing, supermarket-available dark molasses is what you want for your recipes.

I think most people in the U.S. sub Karo for Golden Syrup, but there is a difference as believe I'm correct in saying that Golden Syrup is made from sugar cane and Karo is corn syrup.
Good news is that Lyle Golden Syrup is available in the U.S. in lots of places these days and sure to be selling on the net.

OK, now I remember...my Mom used to have some Lyle's Golden Syrup! (long time ago)

The neat thing is when you look at the can, the picture is of a dead lion carcass buzzing with flies.

And what does that have to do with syrup, one might ask?

Apparently the founder of the company was a religious Scotsman, and jolly fellow that he was, wanted to put something having to do with a biblical quotation on his package. So he chose the dead lion and the flies. I don't know if he polled his marketing team first, or they ran a focus group on it. Perhaps so...but if they did I suppose it sounded find to other religious Scots folk.

[You can go to Wikipedia for the full story.]

If you can, try to find Lyle's Golden Syrup, which is the authentic British product and is fairly widely available in the USA. You should be able to Google a mail-order source if you can't actually find it locally.

In a pinch, Karo syrup would do, although that's made from sweet corn rather than sugar cane, so it'll be a bit different.

-Paul W.

i haven't checked for golden syrup; but one way would be to go to google.co.uk and type a search there. there are googles specific to nearly all countries - google.fr; google.ca; etc. this way you get the responses someone in that very country would get; not based on stuff from your own country.

I vote for Lyle's Golden Syrup. It's even available in West Virginia.

Interesting. I have bought and used Lyle's Golden Syrup but I never really noticed the label.

Out of the strong came forth sweetness?

Well old Samson and the lion got attacked
Samson he jumped up on the lion's back
So you read about this lion had killed a man with his paws
But Samson got his hand in the lion's jaws
He rid that beast until he killed him dead
And the bees made honey in the lion's head

It's a Reverend Garry Davis song, but any Deadhead will know all the words.

Edit: Further research shows the good Reverend didn't write the song - it predates him. FWIW.

I was watching a British cooking show the other day and the Chef used something called Golden Syrup to make a butterscotch sauce. It looked like honey, but I am assuming it's some kind of caramelized simple syrup? I asked my British husband what it was and he said, it's like Treacle...well that helps...NOT . I was wondering if anyone is familar with this product, and if we can get it here in the US.

Welcome back! Was it something Julia said?

Well, culinarily, Karo will do all the same things, if you can live with corn syrup.

Whilst corn syrup will have the same physical properties and make a successful product, the taste and colour of golden syrup is superior IMHO. (We do use it here downunder as we are a) heavily influenced over the years by UK cooking
b) a sugar producing nation and golden syrup is a byproduct of this
our local product is CSR Golden Syrup

I was watching a British cooking show the other day and the Chef used something called Golden Syrup to make a butterscotch sauce. It looked like honey, but I am assuming it's some kind of caramelized simple syrup? I asked my British husband what it was and he said, it's like Treacle...well that helps...NOT . I was wondering if anyone is familar with this product, and if we can get it here in the US.

Welcome back! Was it something Julia said?

Thanks Mike...yeah, and you know that Julia...she is such a meanie...

Whilst corn syrup will have the same physical properties and make a successful product, the taste and colour of golden syrup is superior IMHO. (We do use it here downunder as we are a) heavily influenced over the years by UK cooking
b) a sugar producing nation and golden syrup is a byproduct of this
our local product is CSR Golden Syrup

Do you spread it on vegemite?

Heavens no! Vegemite is sacrosanct!!! silly boy

Well, culinarily, Karo will do all the same things, if you can live with corn syrup.

If I can correct that.
"If you really can't find Golden Syrup, which has a different viscosity (it's a lot thicker) and a different taste, being made from cane instead of corn, then Light Karo is the nearest USAian substitute. But you should be aware that they are about as different as Maple syrup and Karo."

It's made in the UK by Tate & Lyle, and it's one of the few things we bring back to France from the UK, not because it's particularly good in itself, but because there are recipes that use it, and honestly there isn't a decent substitute, in my opinion.

Sorry to contradict you, but it would be a shame if people spoiled a British recipe by using a bad substitution.

It's made in the UK by Tate & Lyle, and it's one of the few things we bring back to France from the UK, not because it's particularly good in itself, but because there are recipes that use it, and honestly there isn't a decent substitute, in my opinion.

Ironically, Tate & Lyle now has a major presence in our fair community, making... corn syrup.

Mark Lipton

He rid that beast until he killed him dead
And the AgCorp made HFCT in the lion's head

Hi Mark,

It's made in the UK by Tate & Lyle, and it's one of the few things we bring back to France from the UK, not because it's particularly good in itself, but because there are recipes that use it, and honestly there isn't a decent substitute, in my opinion.

Ironically, Tate & Lyle now has a major presence in our fair community, making... corn syrup.

That doesn't surprise me, really. Their market share in the UK has diminished, thanks to some really good products from other sugar refiners, (Billingtons, for example). In a sense, the USA is a logical place to look to expand to, and "when in Rome.....".

When you come over in 2011, you can bring some Karo and we can do a comparative tasting, if you like!

We too keep Lyles Golden syrup on hand, along with light and dark Karo, beacause certain recipes including one of my grandmother's Christmas Cookies call for "cane syrup."

Well old Samson and the lion got attacked
Samson he jumped up on the lion's back
So you read about this lion had killed a man with his paws
But Samson got his hand in the lion's jaws
He rid that beast until he killed him dead
And the bees made honey in the lion's head

It's a Reverend Garry Davis song, but any Deadhead will know all the words.

Edit: Further research shows the good Reverend didn't write the song - it predates him. FWIW.

Thank you, Mike! That answers more than one of those long nagging questions.

The story of the lion and the bees is told in the Bible in Judges Chapter 14. "Out of the strong came forth sweetness" is a direct quote from Judges 14:14 (King James).

An old staple in Australian kitchens of past generations was the Washday Pudding. This consisted of scone dough (basically flour, salt, butter and milk kneaded together) cut into individual dumplings or left in a larger piece, put into a baking dish with a generous amount of golden syrup, sugar and butter, and cooked in the oven till the dumplings were light and browned on top and the syrup had melded with the butter and sugar to make a butterscotch sauce. Served with custard or thick cream, it was an easy pudding to produce on washing day when all available time, attention and energy was taken up with tubs, coppers, scrubbing boards and wringers. (The wood stove would have been going all day anyway, and if you had a cow there would have been plenty of cream available.) My grandmother and mother both made it. I never have. It can be delicious but it is a bit heavy.

Another golden syrup pudding can be made by putting a generous scoop of golden syrup in the base of a pudding basin, pouring sponge pudding mixture on top, and steaming it. There should be enough syrup to make a sauce when you turn the pudding out. Again, eat with custard.

Golden Syrup was a common ingredient in farm and station kitchens in days gone by as it needs no refrigeration, doesn't go off, and can be used in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes. You do have to keep it well sealed to keep the ants out, though.