Jaggery
What is Jaggery and What Benefits Does it Have?
Often reffered to as a “superfood sweetener”, Jaggery is a sweetener that’s becoming popular as a “healthy” replacement for sugar. Indians and Sri Lankan's have been using this a lot and is found in many of their traditional foods like the one's at Rani's.
Jaggery is an unrefined sugar product made in Asia and Africa.
It’s sometimes referred to as a “non-centrifugal sugar,” because it’s not spun during processing to remove the nutritious molasses.
Similar non-centrifugal sugar products exist all over Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, although they all have different names.
These products include:
- Gur: India.
- Panela: Colombia.
- Piloncillo: Mexico.
- Tapa dulce: Costa Rica.
- Namtan tanode: Thailand.
- Gula Melaka: Malaysia.
- Kokuto: Japan.
About 70% of the world’s jaggery production takes place in India, where it is commonly called “gur.”
It’s most often made with sugar cane. However, jaggery made from date palm is also common in several countries like Sri Lanka and South India.
See this article on the benefits of Palm Jaggery.