Golden Syrup

Golden syrup is a beloved British syrup made from sugar cane and sugar beet juice, commonly used as a sweetener. It is amber-colored and thick, resembling honey, and often used as a substitute for it. Golden syrup is often found in recipes for cakes and other desserts, but it can also be spread on toast.

It was created back in the late 1800s by English chemist Charles Eastick, and Abram Lyle, an owner of Glebe Sugar Refinery in the Scottish town of Greenrock, as a way to use up excess molasses, a byproduct of the sugar refining process. Their product was a preserve with the viscosity, hue, and sweetness of honey, and it was first marketed in 1885 as "golden syrup".

Golden syrup is made by heating sugar cane or beet juice to create a concentrated syrup. It is then filtered to remove any impurities and then heated again till the water evaporates to create a thick, amber-colored syrup that has a caramel-like taste.

Although it can be made at home, it is most often bought canned or in a glass jar, and Lyle's Golden Syrup tin package (which is still produced and is, in fact, the most popular brand in the UK) even holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest branding and packaging.