Randy Richardson, age 11, of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, for his question:

WHERE DO WE GET MOLASSES?

Molasses is a thick, sweet, sticky syrup. We get most molasses as a by product in the manufacture of sugar from sugar cane. Molasses is almost 70 percent carbohydrates.

Countries that grow sugar cane produce most of the world's molasses, as you can imagine. In the United States, the center of molasses production is Louisiana.

Molasses is a liquid that is obtained from sugar crystals by changing cane juice to sugar. It is made by either an open kettle method or by a vacuum pan method.

Large sugar factories generally use the vacuum pan method. After boiling and stirring, the mixture is spun in rotating containers.

Molasses left after several boilings is called blackstrap.