Sticky Business

Though it's used infrequently in the United States, honeylike golden syrup, also known as light treacle, is a mainstay in the kitchens of Great Britain, where it's drizzled over porridge at breakfast or, for dessert, over sweets like the sponge cake. It has a boldly sweet yet nuanced flavor that plays perfectly against those foods. The ingredient is a felicitous by-product of the conversion of sugarcane juice into crystallized sugar. Tate and Lyle is the only producer of the syrup; cans of it bear the slogan "Out of the strong came forth sweetness", which comes from the Old Testament. We've never fully understood the allusion, but no matter; we love the golden goodness within.