Yes, our Asian grocers sell Jaggery too, along with coconut sugar, palm sugar, rock sugar. I prefer palm sugar. I live in sugar country, i'm surrounded by sugarcane, ginger and galangal farms (thus ginger and galangal grow beautifully at my place) as well as more recently dragonfruit. Our local refineries have started making value added products, such as what they call 'evaporated cane sugar juice' which I believe is done at a lower temperature and contains some/more of the natural amino acids. tasty stuff, not just 'one note' white sugar, more depth of caramel flavor, similar to jaggery and ive taken to buying that more lately, as i'm not 100% happy about the farming methods for most palm sugar (wrt the orangutans). You can find supposed 'cruelty free' palm sugar, but its not common.
Last edited:
We get date palm sugar here, blocks.
No orang utans here.
Tamarind sauce , called sounth or sonth, is used in various snacks, it is cooked tamarind, jaggery red chillies, cumin, and so on.
Shelf life is about a fortnight in the fridge.
Asafoedita helps the digestion, particularly for foods that cause bloating at night. It can rarely cause itching, if used too much. A pinch of compound (with flour) is enough per person. Pure, about a match head...these are for us, you may need a smaller amount to start with.
Not essential for anything, but excellent for indigestion and constipation. Much better than laxatives for long term use with people who are physically unable to move much.
Also, less than a teaspoon of ghee can be heated to lukewarm in the spoon, and a pinch added, when it smells, after a few seconds, the cooled ghee, lukewarm or colder, is applied to the navel of colicky babies, they get better. Folk remedy.
No orang utans here.
Tamarind sauce , called sounth or sonth, is used in various snacks, it is cooked tamarind, jaggery red chillies, cumin, and so on.
Shelf life is about a fortnight in the fridge.
Asafoedita helps the digestion, particularly for foods that cause bloating at night. It can rarely cause itching, if used too much. A pinch of compound (with flour) is enough per person. Pure, about a match head...these are for us, you may need a smaller amount to start with.
Not essential for anything, but excellent for indigestion and constipation. Much better than laxatives for long term use with people who are physically unable to move much.
Also, less than a teaspoon of ghee can be heated to lukewarm in the spoon, and a pinch added, when it smells, after a few seconds, the cooled ghee, lukewarm or colder, is applied to the navel of colicky babies, they get better. Folk remedy.
Last edited:
That : "evaporated cane sugar juice" actually cane sugar at the stage before it is bleached and crystallized.
Brown sand like powder? It is called brown sugar here, sells for twice the price of sugar.
I had been to a sugar mill long back, the black liquor which is concentrated cane juice is then bleached and crystallized.
This is simply the powder of that.
Another marketing trick is blackstrap molasses, which is supposed to be full of iron. It is actually a waste product, and hard to get in my dry state, because the illegal brewers love it.
Tamarind I add last, in cooking it can stop the cooking stage, and is quite strong for my taste. Amchur and lemon are alternates, they have their own taste.
Brown sand like powder? It is called brown sugar here, sells for twice the price of sugar.
I had been to a sugar mill long back, the black liquor which is concentrated cane juice is then bleached and crystallized.
This is simply the powder of that.
Another marketing trick is blackstrap molasses, which is supposed to be full of iron. It is actually a waste product, and hard to get in my dry state, because the illegal brewers love it.
Tamarind I add last, in cooking it can stop the cooking stage, and is quite strong for my taste. Amchur and lemon are alternates, they have their own taste.
yeah the palm sugar we get here is mostly Malay, as was much of the palm oil, but actually I had assumed palm sugar contributed to as much deforestation as palm oil, but apparently it does not, so that makes me feel better.
No, brown sugar and evaporated cane sugar juice are different, at least here. evaporated cane sugar juice is more like what some others call panela, or rapadura (which we can also get here, all refined by QSR, the state run sugar collective). Here, brown sugar (available in light brown, right through to something similar to what is often called muscovado), while similar, is typically wetter/stickier, contains more molasses and is almost like a paste, made of rounder crystals. panela/rapadura/evaporated cane sugar is golden brown, but it is unbleached and is totally dry crystals.
as for Asafoedita, ok yes, so just a digestive aid, rather than needed for its taste. I can avoid.
No, brown sugar and evaporated cane sugar juice are different, at least here. evaporated cane sugar juice is more like what some others call panela, or rapadura (which we can also get here, all refined by QSR, the state run sugar collective). Here, brown sugar (available in light brown, right through to something similar to what is often called muscovado), while similar, is typically wetter/stickier, contains more molasses and is almost like a paste, made of rounder crystals. panela/rapadura/evaporated cane sugar is golden brown, but it is unbleached and is totally dry crystals.
as for Asafoedita, ok yes, so just a digestive aid, rather than needed for its taste. I can avoid.
yes, pretty much the same thing, although there is a certain level of extra clarity in the evaporated sugar juice if using for baking, less impurities vs brown sugar, but pretty much the same as jaggery/panela/rapadura; perhaps in this modern product just cold filtered to remove some impurities. CSR have also started selling a coconut sugar of the same consistency. typically the type of coconut sugar we get in asian grocers here is similar to palm sugar, sold in a cylindrical log, but darker brown, rather than golden/caramel colour, solid and a little bit fudgy. the CSR stuff is similarly dry and powdered crystals like the evaporated juice, but darker and ... coconutty, touch minerally perhaps vs palm sugar.
Asafoedita added with ghee to daal has its own evocative smell.
I take a thick serving spoon (intended for this purpose), add a teaspoon or two of ghee, heat till it smells of hot ghee, add cumin, crackle, then add green or red chillies, when the smell comes, take off the low heat, add a pinch or so of Asafoedita. and when the aroma comes, add to the daal / Chhole / beans, at sizzling temperature.
Lovely. Good for foods which can make you belch.
I take a thick serving spoon (intended for this purpose), add a teaspoon or two of ghee, heat till it smells of hot ghee, add cumin, crackle, then add green or red chillies, when the smell comes, take off the low heat, add a pinch or so of Asafoedita. and when the aroma comes, add to the daal / Chhole / beans, at sizzling temperature.
Lovely. Good for foods which can make you belch.
