While I was pregnant last year it became evident that I had inherited my Swedish grandmother's tendency for anemia. Yes, I was iron deficient. So it has become habit for me to look at the ingredients and nutritional information on the side of many household foods to see how much iron I am getting in a given serving. I am always trying to increase my daily intake of iron from common foods so I don't have to eat large amounts of meat or take a supplement.
For this reason I glanced at the black molasses jar that my husband was going to use for his breakfast. We keep it in the back of the fridge mostly for Lent, but he occasionally eats a special breakfast of molasses and tahini with his bread.
I did not know that black molasses contains 69% daily allotment of calcium per serving. (Each serving is 8 oz.) This means I could chug molasses daily and easily get my daily allotment of calcium. (My other deficiency is usually calcium as shown by my thin fingernails and peeling toenails).
Sometimes the strangest foods seem to meet my nutritional needs.