Molasses at the Table
Courtesy of the University of South Carolina, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
For decades, Southerners like the Fultons of Tennessee have eaten molasses in one form or the other with almost every meal. Most often as a breakfast table condiment with cornbread, fatback (fatty bacon), and runny eggs. One used the cornbread to sop (soak) up the molasses, bacon grease, and runny egg yoke on their plate. The process southerners call “sopping,” which seems likely a North American adaptation to the West and Central African making fufu used to sop up one-pot meals like soaps and stews.
