Introduction

If you've stood in front of the baking aisle wondering whether your recipe wants Fancy, Cooking, or Blackstrap molasses, you're in good company. Crosby's molasses comes in three formulations, and each one behaves a little differently in the bowl and on the spoon.

Crosby has been importing molasses to the East Coast of Canada since 1879, and for the past several decades all our molasses has come exclusively from Madre Tierra in Santa Lucia, Guatemala. This guide walks through what each grade is, how it tastes, and which jar to reach for — so your gingerbread, baked beans, or barbecue sauce turns out the way you want.

Fancy Molasses

Fancy Molasses is the highest grade of molasses available. It's the smoothest and sweetest of the three, and in Canada the name itself is regulated — Fancy is a Standard of Identity designated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and only pure sugarcane juice that has been inverted into syrup can be classified as Fancy Molasses.

Crosby's Fancy Molasses is made by condensing, inverting, and purifying pure sugarcane juice. It's single-origin: the cane comes from the Madre Tierra sugar mill in the village of Santa Lucia, Guatemala, grown in the volcanic soils surrounding the mill. The finished product is 100% natural, unsulphured, contains no additives or preservatives, and is non-GMO certified.

Because it's the sweetest and most refined of the three grades, Fancy Molasses is ideal in a wide range of foods — cookies, cakes, breads, and gingerbread. It's the molasses called for in Crosby's Old Fashioned Gingerbread, Fat Molasses Cookies, Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies, Molasses Sticky Buns, Molasses Banana Bread, Pecan Pie Squares, and even savoury recipes like East Coast Baked Beans and Bourbon Baby Back Ribs. On the industrial side, it's used as a natural flavour enhancer, a cost-effective sweetener, and a natural colourant, and is gluten-free and certified Kosher.

Fancy Molasses is available in 300 g, 675 g, 1.35 kg, and 5 kg packages.

Cooking Molasses

Cooking Molasses is a blend of Crosby's Blackstrap and Fancy molasses. The blend is darker than Fancy molasses and less sweet, with a more full-flavoured taste.

It's a baker's workhorse — ideal in cookies and breads as well as savoury staples like baked beans and stews. Cooking Molasses is available in a 675 g size.

Blackstrap Molasses

Blackstrap is the boldest of the three. It's a highly concentrated, very dark molasses with a robust, somewhat bitter flavour. Like Crosby's Fancy molasses, it's a pure product with no added preservatives — and no added sulfates or sulfites — and is gluten-free and certified Kosher.

Blackstrap is also the most nutrient-dense grade. It's naturally packed with iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, which is why many cooks reach for it when they want depth of flavour plus a nutrition boost.

Because it's strong and a little bitter on its own, Blackstrap shines where you want molasses to stand up to other big flavours: barbeque sauces, baked beans, stews, and marinades. In industrial use it serves as a sweetener, flavour enhancer, and colouring agent. Blackstrap Molasses is available in 675 g.

How to choose between them

The simplest way to think about it: Fancy is the sweetest and smoothest, Blackstrap is the darkest and boldest, and Cooking Molasses sits between them as a balanced blend built for baking.

Reach for Fancy Molasses when you want clean, sweet molasses flavour to come through — gingerbread, fat molasses cookies, sticky buns, banana bread, pecan pie squares, and lighter baked-bean recipes. It's also the choice for sauces and marinades where you want sweetness alongside the molasses note, like Crosby's Bourbon Baby Back Ribs.

Reach for Cooking Molasses when you want a deeper, less-sweet flavour in your baking, or in baked beans and stews where you want the molasses to taste more pronounced.

Reach for Blackstrap when you want a robust, almost bitter edge — barbeque sauces, hearty baked beans, long-simmered stews, and big marinades — or when you specifically want the iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium that Blackstrap is naturally rich in.

Whichever you pick, store it at room temperature between 10°C and 21°C (50–70°F). Don't refrigerate — cold molasses is harder to pour, and the phrase "slow as cold molasses" isn't just an old wives' tale. Kept below 21°C under reasonably steady conditions, molasses generally maintains quality for about 18 months.

About Crosby's molasses

Crosby's has been a proudly Canadian company since 1879, and our roots have been in the same Canadian community for over 146 years. Founder Lorenzo George Crosby started with a grocery store in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia at the age of 20, trading local fish and lumber for fancy molasses from the Caribbean and supplying retailers in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, and New England. By 1897 he had moved operations to Saint John, New Brunswick, and by 1911 to a larger manufacturing plant on Rothesay Avenue — where Crosby Foods remains today.

Five generations later, Crosby Foods Limited continues to flourish as a small, independent, family-owned business, and is recognized as one of Canada's most trusted food companies. In 1997, the Grandma brand — available exclusively in Quebec — joined the Crosby family, bringing its beloved Fancy Molasses to kitchens across the province.

For the past several decades, the source of our molasses has been exclusively Madre Tierra in Santa Lucia, Guatemala, shipped directly to us by ocean-going freighter. The Crosby's Molasses carton lists only one ingredient: molasses. Absolutely no additives or preservatives. That's the quality promise behind every jar of Fancy, Cooking, and Blackstrap on the shelf.

Frequently Asked Questions