Is Treacle Vegan? Everything You Need To Know
It’s a thick, dark brown syrup that is often used in baking or to add sweetness to savoury recipes, but is treacle vegan? Here’s everything you need to know about it!
Treacle is a byproduct that’s created during the sugar-making process and it comes in two varieties- light treacle and dark treacle.
Light treacle is more commonly known as golden syrup and black treacle is also known as treacle syrup. It has a similar thick, sticky texture to golden syrup but is dark brown in colour instead of light. It has a deep, bittersweet flavour similar to molasses.
According to Ragus, treacle was originally used as a medicine for snake bites! It was later used in the 17th century for preserving meats then finally as a baking ingredient, which is what it’s most commonly used for these days.
Is treacle vegan?
Yes, black treacle is vegan. It’s made from cane molasses, which is a plant-based, vegan-friendly ingredient. There are no other ingredients added to it which would make it not vegan, and sugar is not processed using bone char or any other animal byproducts in the UK.
Lyle’s website states that all of their products except the chocolate dessert syrup are suitable for vegans. So you can continue to bake or cook with it as you please. Yay!
Is it gluten-free?
Yes. Black treacle is gluten-free and is typically safe to eat for those with gluten allergies. It does not contain any gluten-containing ingredients and there are usually no cross-contamination warnings on treacle syrup labels. Always make sure to double check the packaging before purchasing though because as you’ll probably know, this may change in the future.
Where can I buy it?
If you live in the UK or have ever visited, you’ll probably recognise the iconic red Lyle’s black treacle tin. It’s the most well-known brand of treacle here and it’s available to buy in most supermarkets. Other brands of treacle include Silver Spoon and Rayner’s but these are quite difficult to find in stores and are best purchased online.
Ways to use treacle
Now that we know treacle syrup is vegan, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can use it:
- Gingerbread house. This is one of my favourite desserts on my blog because it took so long to perfect! It uses molasses as one of the main ingredients.
- Gingerbread men. Gingerbread biscuits/cookies are another great way to use black treacle. It gives them a deep, rich flavour that’s hard to achieve with golden syrup or regular sugar.
- Gingerbread loaf. You can use treacle as a replacement for molasses in most dessert recipes because they are so similar in taste and texture. You can substitute the golden syrup for treacle in my vegan ginger cake recipe for a deeper flavour.
- Coffee. I’m not much of a coffee drinker myself but I’ve read you can add a spoonful of treacle to your coffee to give it an earthy flavour. It’s a good alternative to brown sugar if you fancy trying something new.
- Sauces. Use treacle to sweeten up your savoury sauces when cooking. It works really nicely in BBQ sauce.
Summary
So, is treacle vegan? Yes, because it’s made from cane molasses which is a plant-based ingredient. It is free from animal products and is made using vegan-friendly processing methods. Vegans can enjoy treacle in baking or cooking recipes.
