Worth the cost

Been using a new-to-me substance this year in cooking: pomegranate molasses. No, it's not new. My brother says some people think that it was the honey in the "land of milk and honey" in the Bible. But I've tasted nothing like it, not even pomegranate juice.
Learned something important over the Christmas season, when Bernie was testing versions of his shepherd's pie on me. Hey, he was making it for Solstice dinner, it had to be good! He paid more for a different brand of pomegranate molasses than the first one'd tried.
Pay more. It's usually worth it.
Wine that costs more is usually better, they say, and even with an uneducated palate I can tell the difference between a $10 and a $40 bottle. From what I read of wine columnists, there are many enjoyable $20 bottles to be had, and that's good since I aint planning to spend hundreds on a bottle of wine.
Olive oil that costs more is usually better, they say, and I can sure tell the difference between a $5 and a $30 bottle. But I aint planning to spend more on a bottle of olive oil when a $15 one is pretty darned fine.
And as for pomegranate molasses, the $5 bottle was dark and suggestive and full of low notes. But the $10 bottle was bright in colour, evocative, and full of high notes as well. Like I know how to describe tastes... The more expensive stuff was happier and complex, not just strong.
There are $20 bottles of pomegranate molasses in the mediterranean grocery next to the bike shop at Quadra and Reynolds at the Lochside bike trail. Somebody's gonna have to hold my hand the next time I go in there.