Algarrobina substitute

Best substitute

Carob molasses (dibs el kharoub)

Use the same amount as the algarrobina you are replacing

Best for algarrobina cocktail

Close match

Carob molasses, sold in Middle Eastern shops as dibs el kharoub, is a near-identical 1:1 swap because it is made the same way from the pods of a related tree. Date syrup is the next best at 1:1 if you want the colour and body without bitterness. Regular molasses works at 1:1 but is sharper and more sulphurous, so cut it with a spoonful of simple syrup to soften it.

Other algarrobina substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Date syrup (silan)
Different taste
Use the same amount
Matches the dark colour and the heavy, clinging body, and is naturally sweet with a raisin-and-caramel flavour instead of algarrobina's roasted edge.
What changes
Best for
cocktails, milkshakes, desserts, over ice cream
Sweeter and completely free of bitterness, so an algarrobina cocktail made with it tastes more like a dessert drink. Add a quarter teaspoon of molasses per tablespoon to put the darkness back.
3Molasses plus simple syrup
Different taste
2 parts molasses to 1 part simple syrup, used 1:1 for the algarrobina
Molasses supplies the near-black colour and the deep roasted flavour; the simple syrup dilutes molasses's mineral bitterness down to algarrobina's gentler level.
What changes
Best for
algarrobina cocktail, baking, sauces
Use ordinary or dark molasses, not blackstrap, which is far too bitter and will make the drink taste medicinal. Stir the two together before measuring.
4Blackstrap molasses, diluted
Different taste
1 part blackstrap to 1 part warm water plus 1 part sugar, then use 1:1
Only worth using if blackstrap is the sole dark syrup in the house, because diluting and sweetening it brings its aggressive bitterness back to something like algarrobina's balance.
What changes
Best for
baking, marinades
Even diluted it keeps a liquorice bite that shows through in a creamy cocktail. Fine in a cake, noticeably wrong in a drink.
5Maple syrup plus molasses
Taste and texture differ
3 parts maple to 1 part molasses, used 1:1
Gets the colour roughly right and keeps the sweetness clean, but maple's own flavour is unmistakable and takes over.
What changes
Best for
pancakes, baking, glazes
Much thinner than algarrobina, so it will not give a cocktail any body. Good in a cake or a glaze, weak in the drink.
6Carob powder plus honey
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 tbsp carob powder whisked into 3 tbsp honey for every 4 tbsp algarrobina
The pantry improvisation when no dark syrup is available at all: carob powder carries the roasted pod flavour and honey carries the sweetness and body.
What changes
Best for
cocktails, smoothies, milk drinks
Whisk the powder into slightly warmed honey or it stays gritty. This is the least-bad option rather than a good one, and the result is chalkier and paler than the real thing.

What is Algarrobina?

Algarrobina is Algarrobina is a thick, almost black Peruvian syrup boiled down from the pods of the algarrobo or huarango tree, a desert carob relative, and sold as algarrobina syrup or black carob molasses.

Cooking tips

In the algarrobina cocktail the syrup is doing three jobs at once: it sweetens, it supplies the toasty malt flavour, and its thickness is what makes the drink pour like a milkshake. Any substitute that is thinner will give you a thin cocktail no matter how good it tastes, so reduce a runny syrup in a pan before you use it.
Algarrobina is much less sweet than it looks. If you swap in date syrup or honey, taste and pull back the recipe's added sugar by about a quarter or the drink turns cloying.
The syrup is bitter enough on its own to seem unpleasant straight from the bottle. That mild bitterness is what stops the cocktail's evaporated milk and egg white from tasting flat, which is why a completely sweet substitute needs a little molasses added back.
Buy the thick, tar-like bottles rather than the pourable ones if you have the choice. Thinner commercial algarrobina is often cut with sugar syrup and gives a paler, sweeter drink.
It keeps effectively forever in a sealed bottle at room temperature. If it crystallises or stiffens, stand the bottle in hot water for ten minutes rather than adding water to it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave algarrobina out?

Not in the algarrobina cocktail, since it is the drink's name and its entire character. In a dessert or a batido where it is one of several sweeteners, you can replace it with an equal amount of any dark syrup and lose only the roasted note.

Is algarrobina the same as carob molasses?

They are extremely close but not identical. Both are pod syrups boiled down from trees in the same family, and carob molasses is the best substitute you can buy. Algarrobina comes from the Peruvian algarrobo or huarango and tends to be a little more roasted and smoky; carob molasses leans more raisiny.

Does algarrobina taste like chocolate?

No, though the colour suggests it. It tastes of caramel, dark raisin and roasted grain with a faint bitter finish, closer to molasses than to cocoa. Carob is often compared to chocolate but algarrobina reads as a dark syrup rather than a chocolate flavour.

Is algarrobina alcoholic?

No. It is a non-alcoholic syrup. The confusion comes from the algarrobina cocktail, which mixes the syrup with pisco, evaporated milk, egg white and sugar syrup, and it is the pisco that supplies the alcohol.

How much algarrobina goes in the cocktail?

Recipes vary, but a common build is around 1 tablespoon of algarrobina to 2 ounces of pisco, 2 ounces of evaporated milk, an egg white and a little sugar syrup, shaken hard and dusted with cinnamon. Start there and adjust the syrup up if you want it darker and more milkshake-like.

Related substitutes

More sweeteners substitutes

Algarrobina substitute

Other algarrobina substitutes

2Date syrup (silan)

3Molasses plus simple syrup

4Blackstrap molasses, diluted

5Maple syrup plus molasses

6Carob powder plus honey