Molasses

MOLASSES, a thick sweet syrup obtained by saccharifying potato or other starch with diluted acids, mainly sulfuric or hydrochloric. Molasses has wide application in confectionery production, replacing the more expensive product—sugar. Jams, fruit syrups, caramel and other confectionery products made with molasses have the valuable property of maintaining transparency for a long time without crystallizing. Molasses is often used to sweeten liqueurs and to give them proper consistency. When heated to 200°, molasses acquires a dark-brown color, turning into the so-called caramel color, used as a coloring substance for coloring wines, vinegar, soft drinks and other products. Good molasses should be transparent, colorless, pleasant-tasting, without foreign taste or odor. Cloudiness in molasses indicates insufficient purification or spoilage. This cloudiness may consist of particles of unconverted starch, gypsum, iron phosphate, molds, bacteria and other substances. According to F. Terevitinov's data, starch molasses has the following composition: water—15-20%, dry substance—80-85%; reducing sugar, calculated as glucose—35-45%, dextrins—45-55%, ash—0.2-0.3%; acidity in cm^{3 n}/₁₀ NaOH per 100 g dry substance—10-15, specific rotation of dry substance +145° to +130°. Thanks to its very high sugar and dextrin content, molasses is a valuable food product, closely related in nutritional value to pure sugar and starch, but having lower (by 15-25%) caloric value. The All-Union Standard (OST 209) distinguishes 3 main groups of molasses: caramel, table, and blackstrap. Caramel molasses is divided into 2 grades (I and II). Caramel molasses should be almost colorless and transparent, a barely noticeable opalescence is allowed. In table molasses, slight cloudiness is allowed, which disappears when heated to 80°. Caramel molasses should withstand the so-called caramel test: when boiled down, it should not burn, darken or foam excessively; the candy obtained after boiling down the molasses should be transparent, without dark spots and streaks, easily breakable, not sticking to the teeth. After 3 hours at a temperature of 15-20° and average humidity (not more than 60%), the candy should not stick. In chemical research by standard methods (OST 210), in 20 g samples of molasses, arsenic, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, tin should not be detected. Arsenic and other harmful impurities can get into molasses mainly from poorly purified sulfuric acid used in molasses production or from the vessels in which it is prepared. Besides potato molasses, there are also sugar or refined molasses (molasses), which is an intermediate or residual product of beet or cane sugar production. The best, well-purified, light varieties find application in confectionery, have a pleasant burnt sugar taste. Black sugar molasses is a waste product of sugar-refining production, has various (mainly mineral) impurities and an unpleasant taste; it is used for feeding livestock and for technical purposes.

N. Ignatov. Molasses (starch-molasses) production consists of three independent productions existing separately or as a complex: 1) extraction of starch from raw materials, mainly from potatoes and corn; 2) drying starch; 3) processing starch into molasses and other sugar substances. In addition, it includes some secondary productions: dextrin, sago and others. 1. Potato starch factories (in the USSR they are concentrated in the Central Black Earth Region and Ivanovo Oblast) mostly have a small artisanal character; the work is seasonal, from mid-September to early December. Production processes: acceptance of potatoes, washing and grating it, separation of starch from pulp by washing, settling of starch. The majority of workers are engaged in carrying potatoes. The main professional hazard is high humidity of air with insufficient heating or its absence. Complete mechanization and health improvement are possible even in small factories (such as the factory built in 1928 in Tolochin—BSSR). Corn starch factories are larger-scale enterprises (the largest factory not only in the USSR but also in Europe, 'Red Profintern' on the Volga, 49 km from Yaroslavl; 1,000 workers, production of more than 100 t of molasses per day). Production processes: soaking corn in vats in a hot ¹/2%^-n°^m solution of sulfuric acid, crushing, separation of germs, repeated washing of starch on sieves, settling. Waste products (germs, protein and fat substances) are also processed. The production is fully mechanized. The main professional hazard is high humidity of air (80-95% relative humidity). 2. Molasses production. Production processes: refining starch, washing and settling, cooking starch milk with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, neutralization with slaked lime and chalk, filtration on filter-presses and through bone charcoal, final boiling in vacuum, filling into barrels; auxiliary operation—rejuvenation of charcoal: sequential washing with hot water, hydrochloric acid, soda, drying on a hot plate, calcining in furnaces, back-filling into filters. Professional hazards: high temperature and increased humidity of air near cooking vats and at converters, danger of burns, heavy work on filter-presses, release of coal dust. The most arduous work is in the bone charcoal plant: coal dust, high air temperature (35-45°) near the drying plate, when discharging calcined charcoal and when filling it, danger of burns for the calciner, release of CO (at the 'Red Profintern' factory, 0.23-0.5 mg per 1 liter of air was found). A radical health improvement measure is replacing bone charcoal with activated wood charcoal, the consumption of which is 30 times less than bone charcoal; when working with bone charcoal—complete mechanization of the rejuvenation process. 3. Starch-drying production. Factories work seasonally—4-5 months a year. There are various types of dryers: tray (most primitive, now almost never encountered), carousel, drum. The latter is not insulated, air temperature near it reaches 35-40° with relative humidity 70-80%; the most perfect is the drum dryer with continuous passage of the product. Professional hazards—high temperature and high air dustiness (80-100 mg/m³). Complete improvement of working conditions in this production is possible by installing well-insulated drum dryers and complete mechanization of all other processes: sifting, moving, filling into bags.

ⁿ- Rovenbaum.