This is Angela Odell and you are listening to real cool history for kids.

A podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical world view perspective.

Welcome to an adventure.

Welcome to episode 76 of real cool history for kids.

This episode is for Elena Cipherett, who wanted to hear a story about the great molasses

flood of 1919. Hey Elena, this one's for you.

Some stories from history are just so weird.

It would take a super crazy imagination to even make them up.

I mean, who would have ever thought of a molasses flood?

The idea of a flood of molasses might sound kind of funny to us,

but in reality, it was a truly horrible event. One that caused great destruction and took quite a

few lives, both humans and animals. Before I tell you the story of the molasses flood of 1919,

I need to make sure we all understand what molasses is. There's a good chance that you

have tasted molasses because it's the main ingredient in many baked goods, such as chocolate

chip cookies. Brown sugar is often used in cookies and brown sugar is a combination of white

sugar and molasses. Molasses is actually a byproduct of the sugar making process. Sugar cane or

sugar beets are crushed and juiced. And then the juice is taken and boiled down to create sugar

crystals, which are removed and processed into the packages of sugar that we buy at the store.

Sugar made from sugar cane is generally more expensive and a higher quality than the sugar

made from sugar beets. Molasses is what's left over after those sugar crystals are removed from

the liquid and it's a strong tasting, thick, dark brown syrup. And this dark brown syrup can

be used in baking, but it can also be used to produce other products, such as a variety of types

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