Jaggery - Dried Sugarcane Juice

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Jaggery is a "natural" sweetener made by the concentration of sugarcane juice so is sugar but sugar is refined before thickening the juice. So, the main difference between jaggery and sugarcane is that jaggery has molasses (vitamins, minerals and iron) and sugar does not. Jaggery has a distinctive taste and can have a consistency as soft as honey-butter or as solid as fudge and sugar is cystal. The color of jaggery can vary from golden brown to dark brown. While sugar is made only of sucrose, jaggery is made up of predominantly sucrose, mineral salts, iron and has fiber.

It is popular form of using sugar in Asia, Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean where sugar is grown. It is a dark, coarse, unrefined sugar. Jaggery, which accounts for 50 percent of the sugar eaten in India, is made from sugar cane and is processed by a method not unlike that used to make maple syrup here in Minneapolis. The sweet sap from the sugarcane is boiled down while several people help stir the steadily thickening syrup. The finished product.

How to use jaggery?
- In cooking jaggery can sweeten both sweet and savory dishes.
Savoury Dishes
- Jaggery is used to flavor vegetables simmered in ghee seared spices.
- Jaggery is also added to lentil soups (dal) to add sweetness to balance the spicy, salty and sour components.
- Jaggery is indespensible to make sweet, sour chutneys. These chutneys are then used to add flavor to meals.
- Pumpkin and squash are sweetened with jaggery.
- Jaggery pairs well with coconut, peanuts and panch phoran spice blend and tomatoes.

Desserts.
- Gur is added to rich, brown puddings in South India – called payasums - made from jaggery and rice, wheat or dal. These delicious desserts are enriched with spices like cardamom and dried fruits, sesame seeds, shredded coconut, peanuts, coconut milk and whole nuts.
- In Bengali cuisine it is very common in making sweet dishes. Special sweet dishes are made by mixing jaggery with milk and coconut. Popular sweet dishes like Naru or Patisapta Pitha are made by mixing jaggery with fresh coconut shreds.
- Jaggery is also molded into novelty shapes as a type of candy.
- Sweets like jaggery brittles combined with sesame seeds, cashew nuts, pea nuts and jaggery cake made with pumpkin preserve, and spices. ‘Gazak Rolls’ prepared in pure ghee with Jaggary (Gur).

Ayurveda info on jaggery?
Jaggery is recommended in case of iron deficiency anemia. Since jaggery is made up in iron vessels, it is also rich source of iron.
Jaggery is made up of longer chains of sucrose, is digested slowly and slowly releases energy and may be consumed by diabetics in small quantities as it predominantly is made up of sucrose.
Jaggery benefits as a cleansing agent and cleans the lungs, stomach, intestines, esophagus and respiratory tracts.

What is jaggery in:
Burma: jaggery
India: gur, jaggery
Sri Lanka: hakuru, jaggery
Thailand: nam taan oi

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Jaggery(Gur) dried sugarcane juice.

Jaggery has a sweet, winey fragrance and flavor that lends distinction to whatever food it embellishes. It has a heady aroma and delicious flavour somewhere between brown sugar and molasses
- It is used to make candies and granola bars called chikki in India.
- crushed, to sprinkle on cereal
- It is added to vegetables along with spices for the sweet and sour taste found in some Indian dishes especially from the western state of Gujarat.
- It sweetens and flavours that rich coconut milk and tapioca drink from Burma, moh let saung,
- it is used not just for confections but also to add the necessary touch of sweetness to hot curries
- Added along with lentils to make a dough which is stuffed inside whole wheat flour dough to make a heavenly flat griddle bread
- It is used for Indian sweet dishes like "Khir", "Puranpoli" and several deserts, instead of sugar, because of its nutritious value.
- It is used in traditional and cultural events as a gift to mark sweetness and auspiciousness
- It is used to sweeten pickles and "chattani".
- Jaggery is also used in ayurvedic medicines and high quality liquor products.

Gur(vellam in the south) ormolasses or jaggery comes from two sources-sugarcane and date palm, which is more favoured in eastern India(Bengal and Orisa). Both can be had in liquid and solid form. Unrefined cane sugar is used in chutneys, in sweetened dals and subzis of the west and eaten with pure ghee and rotis or stuffed, mixed with coconut, into dumplings called 'modak', specially made in Ganesh chaturthi because of the elephant's headed God's alleged fondness for this sweet. Jaggery is also crushed and mixed with dried ginger powder(sonth) and ghee and rolled into pills as a post-natal pick-me-up for new mothers. It is said to warm the blood and is used to bind special winter sweets like gajak amd revdi made gingili and jaggery.

It is beliieved in India that jaggery has great nutritive and medicinal value. It has the reputation of being a medicinal sugar and is prescribed for use in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Ancient Medical scriptures dating back to 2500 years state how jaggery.
Jaggery contains proteins, minerals and vitamins, which are essential constituents for the body. It is also a potent source of Iron and has a higher Iron and Copper contents than white sugar.
It is also a superior product among natural sweeteners with regards to the Vitamin contents. It is an energy food that is said to "purify" blood, regulate the liver function and keep the body healthy.

Calories    19-20 Cal/tsp
Vitamin B Complex    1g/kg
Folic acid    1mg/kg
Iron   1mg/g
Calcium    5mg/100g

Peach Fruit Dessert - Yield: 6 servings Recipe by Raji Jallepalli
Ingredients
12 firm but ripe small peaches, preferably freestone (plums, apricots or nectarines may also be used)
1/2 cup ghee
1/2 cup jaggery
2 Tablespoons sherry or port wine (optional)
Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Wash the peaches and pat dry. Cut in half lengthwise, remove the pits, and season the cut sides with salt and pepper. (This will set the enzymes and heighten the flavor). Place the peaches, cut sides down, on a platter or other non-reactive surface, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Heat the ghee in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the peaches, cut side down, and cook for about 3 minutes, or until the fruit and ghee begin to brown. Add the jaggery. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the peaches begin to soften and the ghee and jaggery mixture is golden and syrupy. Add the sherry and cook for an additional minute.

Place 4 peach halves, cut sides down, in a shallow dessert bowl or soup plate. Pour syrup over peaches and serve.