Golden Syrup | BBC Good Food

Skip to main content

• Subscribe
• Sustainability
• Good Food Shows
• GF x Gousto
• Download our app
• GF x Laithwaites Wine

• Recipes
  • Back to Main menu
  • New and trending
    • Back to Recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • What's in season
    • Italian pasta recipes
    • Classic bakes
  • Newsletter recipes
    • Back to Recipes
    • Batch cooking
    • Easy desserts
  • Sign up today
  • WhatsApp feed
  • What to cook
    • Back to Recipes
    • Quick and easy
    • Everyday recipes
    • Family recipes
    • One-pots
    • Slow cooker recipes
    • Traybakes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Batch cooking
    • All inspiration
  • Occasion recipes
    • Back to Recipes
    • Valentine's Day
    • Lunar New Year
    • Pancake Day
    • Ramadan and Iftar
  • Meal type
    • Back to Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Browse all meal types
  • Diet type
    • Back to Recipes
    • Vegan
    • Vegetarian
    • Browse all diet types
  • Explore
    • Back to Recipes
    • Ingredients
    • Cuisines
    • Chef recipes
    • Explore more
• Health
  • Back to Main menu
  • Welcome to Good Health by Good Food
  • Subscribe
    • Back to Health
    • Nutracheck
    • Healthy eating plan
    • Free health newsletter
  • Fitness
    • Back to Health
    • Protein 101
    • Marathon meal plans
  • Your health
    • Back to Health
    • Women's health
    • Improve digestion
  • Healthy eating
    • Back to Health
    • Vitamins and minerals
    • What to eat
  • Wellbeing
    • Back to Health
    • Sleep better
    • Eat for energy
• What to buy
  • Back to Main menu
  • Trending
    • Back to What to buy
    • Pancake Day with Tower
    • Best frying pans
    • Best pancake pans
    • Best coffee machines
  • How we test
  • Wine Club
  • More reviews
    • Back to What to buy
    • Best pan sets
    • Best knife sets
    • Best veg box
    • Best collagen supplement
    • Best coffee beans
    • Coffee pod machines
  • Taste tests
  • Drinks reviews
  • Gift guides
  • Browse all reviews
• Budget
  • Back to Main menu
  • Batch cooking
    • Back to Budget
    • Budget batch cooking
    • Healthy batch cooking
    • Veggie batch cooking
  • Leftovers ideas
    • Back to Budget
    • Leftover chicken recipes
    • Leftover rice recipes
    • Leftover potato recipes
  • Zero-waste
    • Back to Budget
    • Fridge raid recipes
    • 5 waste-free meals
    • Planet-friendly cooking
  • Budget meal plans
    • Back to Budget
    • Student meal plan
    • Quick family meal plan
    • 5-ingredient meal plan
  • Freezable feasts
    • Back to Budget
    • Freezable family dinners
    • Freezer-friendly pasta
    • Healthy freezable meals
  • Cheap eats
    • Back to Budget
    • Quick budget dinners
    • Thrifty family feasts
    • Cheap and healthy
• Valentine's Day
• Subscribe
• Subscribe
• Sustainability
• Good Food Shows
• GF x Gousto
• Download our app
• GF x Laithwaites Wine

Search

• Home
• Glossary
• Golden syrup

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D
5. E
6. F
7. G
8. H
9. I
10. J
11. K
12. L
13. M
14. N
15. O
16. P
17. Q
18. R
19. S
20. T
21. U
22. V
23. W
24. X
25. Y
26. Z

Golden syrup|goal-dun sir-rup|

• Good Food team

This amber-coloured syrup is used in treacle sponges and tarts or as a sweet topping for pancakes and waffles. Find out how to cook with golden syrup.

Ad

What is golden syrup?

Golden syrup is a translucent, golden-amber coloured, sweet syrup, which can only be produced commercially and was created in London in the 1880s. It is essentially white sugar/sucrose in a different form. This has been inverted, meaning that the sucrose has been broken down into two simpler sugars, fructose and glucose. The fructose content gives a heightened perception of sweetness so that, when used as a sweetening agent, about 25% less golden syrup can be used than granulated white sugar.

The flavour is light and caramel-like but with a finishing acidity that balances the sweetness and largely explains the great popularity of golden syrup. However, unlike varieties of brown sugars that have slight nutritional benefits over white sugar, golden syrup has no dietary advantage; there is no real difference nutritionally.

How to cook golden syrup

Golden syrup is best known as a sauce at the bottom of a simple steamed pudding in a treacle sponge, sometimes with only butter added but often also heightened with lemon zest and ginger; those flavourings combined with white breadcrumbs are the basis of treacle tart.

Vegans and vegetarians who believe bees are injured or killed by commercial honey gathering use golden syrup as a honey substitute. It can be used wherever honey is used, providing a lesser flavour spectrum but saving rather a lot of cost; this would include on porridge, pancakes and waffles, in flapjacks, ginger cakes and similar.

To really showcase this ingredient, try making our golden syrup dumplings.

How to store golden syrup

Lasts at ambient temperature for years in a sealed container. The process by which golden syrup is manufactured means that it is unlikely ever to crystallise.

Availability of golden syrup

Widely available in several types of container, including tins, glass jars and squeezy bottles.

Choose the best golden syrup

There are unlikely to be competing brands available, but some supermarkets make their own versions. Some manufacturers occasionally market flavoured variants, particularly maple syrup, but these are rarely found.

AdAdAdAd

Explore our recipe app

Subscribe now and get access to exclusive recipes, meal plans, podcasts and more.

Try today

Eating well made easy

Make healthy cooking easy and enjoy a year of Good Food All Access for just £44.99, plus receive a free stylish sauté pan (worth £59.99)

Subscribe today

Podcast

Our food team shares tips, techniques and their all-time favourite recipes in our lively weekly podcast.

More