My kids have a byline for molasses: "They are so bad they're good." There is debate at our house about whether or not the word molasses is treated as a singular or plural noun. I tend to favor plural. But that's not to say that I won't occasionally lapse into a singular usage. I do like to refer to molasses as a "they." Quite a number of our kids' friends have had their first exposure to molasses at our house. We are sort of self-appointed molasses ambassadors. Ambassamolassadors, you might say. Once we realized that other families were not providing molasses to their kids, we became somewhat aggressive whenever we had kid-friends over at meal time. We would insist that they take at least a small spoonful. Some would resist, and we would cajole and plead and ultimately insist. Inevitably the looks on the kids' faces would range from skepticism to outright hostility upon viewing and smelling the black liquid on the spoon. We tried many times, but I don't think we ever had any true converts. Oh, what they were missing. There is nothing more delicious than a warm buttermilk biscuit, cut open and buttered, then drizzled generously with rich, dark, sweet molasses. Mmmmm....they are so bad, they're good.
