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Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice and often date or Arecaceae plant sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in colour. It contains up to 50% sucrose, up to 20% , and up to 20% moisture, with the remainder made up of other insoluble matter, such as wood ash, , and bagasse fibres. Jaggery is very similar to muscovado, an important sweetener in Portuguese, British cuisine and French cuisine.
In Sri Lanka, syrup extracts from kithul ( Caryota urens) trees are widely used for jaggery production.
All types of the sugar come in blocks or pastes of solidified concentrated sugar syrup heated to . Traditionally, the syrup is made by boiling raw sugarcane juice or palm sap in large, shallow, round-bottomed vessels.
The vessel is heated for about an hour. Dried wood pulp from the crushed sugarcane is traditionally used as fuel for the furnace. While boiling the juice, lime is added to it so that all the wood particles rise to the top of the juice in a froth, which is skimmed off. Finally, the juice is thickened. The resulting thick liquid is about one-third of the original volume.
This hot liquid is golden in colour. It is stirred continuously and lifted with a spatula to observe whether it forms a thread or drips while falling. If it forms many threads, it has completely thickened. It is poured into a shallow flat-bottomed pan to cool and solidify. The pan is extremely large to allow only a thin coat of this hot liquid to form at its bottom, so as to increase the surface area for quick evaporation and cooling. After cooling, the jaggery becomes a soft solid that is then molded into the desired shape.
The quality of jaggery is judged by its colour; dark brown means it was not clarified during the making, or the sugarcane juice was boiled with full nutrients intact. Some people misinterpret this as impure and clarify the juice to improve colour while taking out the nutrients to make golden-yellow jaggery, which is nothing but refined sugar. Due to this grading scale, coloured adulterants, which may be toxic, are sometimes added to jaggery to simulate the golden hue.
Natural dark brown jaggery is derived from whole sugarcane juice, by means of boiling at nearly 200 °C in a large cast iron pan. Food-grade mustard or castor oil (having a high smoke point) is usually used in such pans in negligible quantity (approximately 2 teaspoons per 100 kg) so that the very hot juice froth does not come out of the pan during boiling. Mustard or castor oil is present in whole jaggery in traces, and the qualities of such oils (laxative) coincide and support this quality of whole jaggery.
Many manufacturers use synthetic oil and argue that since it is in trace amounts there is no health concern. However, synthetic oil even in traces can be toxic. So, one not only needs to verify the wholesomeness of jaggery (attained with no clarification), but also verify the type of oil used, even in traces.
In Sri Lanka, jaggery is usually made using the syrup of the Caryota urens palm tree, or from coconut syrup. The respective names in Sinhalese are kitul hakuru (කිතුල් හකුරු) and pol hakuru (පොල් හකුරු). Jaggery from the syrup of the palmyrah palm is more prominent in the northern part of the country; this is referred to as palmyrah jaggery or panangkaruppatti (பனங்கருப்பட்டி) in Tamil language. Jaggery made from sugarcane syrup is considered inferior to palm syrup-based jaggery varieties, and the term jaggery (கருப்பட்டி) is generally understood in the country to refer to the latter.
Maharashtra in India is the largest producer and consumer of jaggery known as "gul" (गुळ) in Marathi language and Marwari language, "gur" (گڑ) in Urdu, "bellaṁ" (బెల్లం) in Telugu, bella (ಬೆಲ್ಲ) in Kannada, "vellam"(வெல்லம்) in Tamil, "sharkara" (ശർക്കര) in Malayalam , "gōḷa" (ગોળ) in Gujarati , "miṣṭa" (मिष्ट) in Sanskrit, "guṛa" (ଗୁଡ଼) in Odia, gur (गुड़) in Hindi and "guṛ" (গুড়) in Bengali.
Kolhapur is one of the largest producers of jaggery in India and has a GI Tag for Kolhapur jaggery. Most vegetable dishes, curry, and dals, and many desserts, contain it. Jaggery is especially used during Makar Sankranti for making a dessert called tilgul. In Gujarat, a similar preparation known called tal na ladu or tal sankli is made. In rural Maharashtra and Karnataka, water and a piece of jaggery are given to a person arriving home from working under the hot sun. In Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka, on Ugadi festival day (New Year), Ugadi pachadi is made from jaggery and five other ingredients (shad ruchulu- sweet, sour, salt, tangy, spice and bitter) and is consumed symbolizing life is a mixture of happiness, disgust, fear, surprise, anger and sadness.
Molasses (काकवी), a byproduct of the production of jaggery, is used in rural Maharashtra and Karnataka as a sweetener. It contains many minerals not found in ordinary sugar and is considered beneficial to health in traditional Ayurveda medicine. It is an ingredient of many sweet delicacies, such as gur ke chawal / chol ("jaggery rice"), a traditional Rajasthani or Punjabis dish.
In Gujarat, are made from wheat flour and jaggery. A well-known Maharashtrian recipe, puran poli, uses it as a sweetener apart from sugar. Jaggery is considered an easily available sweet which is shared on any good occasion. In engagement ceremonies, small particles of it are mixed with coriander seeds (ધાણા). Hence, in many Gujarati communities, engagement is commonly known by the metonymy gol-dhana (ગોળ-ધાણા), literally "jaggery and coriander seeds".
Jaggery is used extensively in South India to balance the pungency of spicy foods. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu it is used for sweets such as chakkara pongal and milk pongal, which are prepared with rice, milk, and jaggery. During Sankranti, Ariselu, an authentic Andhra Pradesh dish, is prepared. In Tamil Nadu, Thala Guli (sesame balls), Adhirasam and pori vilangu urundai (puffed rice balls) are prepared as an offering - called - to god during Puja and festivals such as Diwali, Puthandu and Janmashtami.
A sweet liquid called Panakam, made of water, jaggery and peppercorns is prepared as the favorite offering to Lord Rama during Rama Navami festival. In Kerala, it is considered auspicious and is widely used in cooking. It is a vital ingredient in many varieties of payasam, a sweet dish. The state of Kerala as 2 GI tagged jaggeries by the name of Central Travancore jaggery and Marayoor jaggery
In Tamil Nadu, jaggery is used exclusively as a sweetener. It is used in a dish called chakkarai pongal. It is prepared during the festival of Pongal (Thai Pongal), which is held when the harvesting season begins. It is used to make kalhi, to sweeten fruit salads and payasam (sweet milk) that are offered to the gods. Jaggery is used in religious rituals. In rural areas, cane jaggery and palm jaggery are used to sweeten beverages, whereas refined sugar has replaced it in urban areas.
In Oriya people cuisine, cakes or piṭhas contain jaggery. Pithas like Arisa pitha are made out of jaggery called guda in Odia. Kakara pitha contains coconut filings which are caramelized using jaggery. Guda is also added to rice flakes known as chuda and eaten for breakfast. Some marmalade made of mango and dillenia contain the ingredient.
In Bengali cuisine cuisine, it is commonly used in making sweet dishes, some of which mix jaggery with milk and coconut. Popular sweet dishes such as laḍḍu/ laṛu or paṭishapta pitha mix it with coconut shreds. Jaggery is molded into novel shapes as a type of candy. The same preparation of sweets have been made in the neighbouring state of Assam. Some of the popular sweet dishes of Assam such as til-pitha (made of rice powder, sesame and jaggery), other rice-based pitha, and payas are made of jaggery. In some villages of Assam, people drink salty red tea with a cube of gurd (jaggery), which is popularly called cheleka-chah (licking tea).
Traditional Karnataka sweets, such as paayasa, obbattu (holige) and unday use different kinds of jaggery. A pinch is commonly added to sambar (a.k.a. huLi saaru) and rasam (a.k.a. saaru). Karnataka produces sugar and palm-based jaggery.
Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh has the largest jaggery market in the world along with having a GI Tag for Muzaffarnagar jaggery, followed by Anakapalle in the Visakhapatnam District in Andhra Pradesh. The Kolhapur District in western Maharashtra is famous for its jaggery, which is yellow and much sought-after in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Mandya in Karnataka is known for its jaggery production.
Besides being a food, jaggery may be used (mixed in an emulsion with buttermilk and mustard oil) to season the inside of tandoor ovens.
Jaggery is used in natural dyeing of fabric. It is also used in in rural areas of Pakistan and India.
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