Palm Jaggery (Panangkaruppatti) – 500g

Panangkaruppatti is made the way it has always been made in Tamil Nadu — sap is tapped from the palmyra tree at dawn, then slow-boiled in an open pan until it thickens and sets into firm brown discs. Nothing is added and nothing is refined out, so the jaggery keeps the minerals and the deep smoky-caramel flavour that white sugar loses entirely.

Use it wherever you would use sugar or cane jaggery: in coffee and herbal decoctions, in payasam and adhirasam, in sweet pongal, or simply broken into a piece after a meal. It dissolves more slowly than powdered sugar, so give it a minute in hot liquid.

In Tamil household tradition palm jaggery has long been eaten as a warming, strengthening food, particularly in the cooler months. Store in a dry airtight jar away from moisture — palm jaggery draws in humidity and can soften during the monsoon.