Free Republic

BEDFORD, Ind. -- A tank containing 1,500 gallons of molasses ruptured at a feed store, sending the sticky substance flowing into the street, stopping traffic. Tanks holding the molasses at Flinn Family Farms Bedford Feed & Seed had just been filled Wednesday when one of them ruptured, said David Flinn. "It flowed almost like a little branch," Flinn said. "From where the tanks sit it just went across the parking lot, down the side of the road and down that way." Flinn called the fire department and attempted to build a dike to contain the molasses. The street outside the...

Many of us believe some kinds of sugar are somehow healthier. High-fructose corn syrup has been a scapegoat for American obesity for the past decade and a half, so you might be surprised to learn that sugar and honey both have more fructose than high-fructose corn syrup. Let’s break down the numbers here. Despite its misleading name, the most commonly used form of HFCS only has 42 percent fructose in comparison to table sugar’s 50 percent. Honey, the beloved natural sweetener, has 49 percent. Standard corn syrup doesn’t have any fructose because it’s 100 percent glucose, which explains how HFCS...

On January 15, 1919, a tank containing 2.3 million gallons of molasses weighing an estimated 26 million pounds burst open, unleashing a sticky flood onto Boston's North End. The 25-foot high wave of goo oozed over the streets at 35 miles per hour, crushing buildings in its wake and killing 21 people. The wave broke steel girders of the Boston Elevated Railway, almost swept a train off its tracks, knocked buildings off their foundations, and toppled electrical poles, the wires hissing and sparking as they fell into the brown flood. The Boston Globe reported that people 'were picked up and...

The deepest and most damaging penetration of the U.S. Defense Department by an enemy agent in recent history was pulled off by a spy working for the terror-sponsoring, drug-smuggling Castro regime. The spy’s name is Ana Belen Montes, known as "Castro’s Queen Jewel" in the intelligence community. In 2002 she was convicted of the same crimes as Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and today she serves a 25-year sentence in Federal prison. Only a plea bargain spared her from sizzling in the electric chair like the Rosenbergs.Promptly upon Montes’ conviction a Cuban spy named Gustavo Machin, who worked under diplomatic cover in...

“A dull muffled roar gave but an instant’s warning before the top of the tank was blown into the air,” The New York Times wrote in 1919. “Two million gallons of molasses rushed over the streets and converted into a sticky mass the wreckage of several small buildings which had been smashed by the force of the explosion.”

[The Occupant] The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Iowa and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding during the period of May 19 to June 14, 2013. Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, tornadoes, and floodng i

I've always been a big fan of pickling and canning, and one of my favorite things to make at home is prepared mustard. We use it for a variety of purposes, and not just on hotdogs. Mustard can be the basis for some outstanding tomato-less BBQ finishing sauce, as a glaze for salmon, the basis for vinaigrettes and other salad dressings and even marinades. Potato salad made with just a spoonful of either one of these recipes is a revelation.... There are many ways to make mustard and I am presenting 2 of my favorite recipes along with the technique...

Yesterday was the 92nd anniversary of one of the strangest tragedies ever to take place on American soil. It's the stuff of Weekly World News or The Onion. Yet it was a very real, deadly, (and delicious) disaster. To this day on hot summer days in an old Boston neighborhood, residents swear that they can smell a vague odor of molasses. It's a sweet-smelling reminder of a day when some 150 people were injured; 21 people and several horses were killed by a sudden flood of molasses... Purity Distilling Company was doing big business. A large quantity of stored molasses...

Yes there really was a flood of molasses in Boston in the early 18th century, and as improbable as it seems, the reality is horrifying. And yes, sometimes a woman is so dumb she's married to a killer and doesn't know it. Reviews of "Dark Tide" and "Mafia Wife"…both older books but worth a new look. HERE FOR REVIEWS

In Southern Appalachia, sweetnin' refers to sugar in its various forms, including white sugar, brown sugar, honey, and sorghum syrup. For almost a century following the introduction of sugar sorghum to the United States in 1857, sweet sorghum -- popularly known in the region as "sorghum molasses" -- was the sweetnin' of choice. [Vintage pictures.]

Like Stack Cake, Shoo-Fly Pie is a genuine example of folk cuisine, its origin obscure and its recipe subject to variation. There are two conventional wisdoms concerning Shoo-Fly Pie, one holding that it is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch food and the other that it is an example of old-time Southern vernacular cuisine. There is however no evidence that Shoo-fly Pie existed prior to the expansion of sorghum molasses production in the last half of the 19th century and it seems likely that, also like Stack Cake, Shoo-Fly Pie resulted from the increased availability of this inexpensive form of sugar.

One sure sign of a genuine specimen of folk cuisine is an abundance of old family recipes which are generally similar but differ in details. Stack Cake is the real thing -- you can collect as many "authentic" recipes for stack cake as you would like. Stack Cake is made of 6 to 8 layers of cake with an apple-based filling between the layers. A common apocryphal story is that it originated as poor-folks' wedding cake, with several guests each contributing a layer.

What's with BlogSpot.Com? EVERY morning that site turns SLOOOOWER than Molasses. I am trying to put up a Blog edition there right now but am hampered by the fact that it is frustratingly slow. Anybody know when this problem will be FIXED? The worst time of the day seems to be around 9 AM EST.