Palm sugar

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Three cakes of commercially produced palm sugar Palmsugar.jpg
Three cakes of commercially produced palm sugar
Boiling palm sap to make traditional palm sugar in the village at West Sumatra, Indonesia Sang pembuat gula aren.jpg
Boiling palm sap to make traditional palm sugar in the village at West Sumatra, Indonesia

Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar is sometimes qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed similarly and can be used interchangeably.

Contents

Types

The predominant sources of palm sugar are the Palmyra, date, nipa, sugar, and coconut palms. [1]

The Palmyra palm (Borassus spp.) is grown in Africa, Asia, and New Guinea. The tree has many uses, such as thatching, hatmaking, timber, a writing material, and in food products. Palm sugar is produced from sap (toddy) from the flowers.

The date palm has two species, Phoenix dactylifera and P. sylvestris , and both are sources of palm sugar. P. dactylifera is common in the Mediterranean and Middle East. P. sylvestris is native to Asia, mainly Pakistan and India. Date palms are cultivated mainly for dates. Palm sugar is made from the tree's sap.

The nipa palm ( Nypa fruticans ) is native to the coastlines and tropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm tree that grows in a watery mangrove biome. Only its leaves and flowers grow above water. Palm sugar is made from the sugar-rich sap.

The sugar palm ( Arenga pinnata ) is native to the coastal and tropical regions of Asia, mainly China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The sap used to produce palm sugar is known in India as gur and in Indonesia as gula aren.

The coconut palm' (Cocos nucifera) yields coconut palm sugar from the sap of its flowers. It grows in coastal areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Major suppliers are Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Production

Palm sugar is produced by boiling collected sap until it thickens. [2] [3] [4] The boiled sap can be sold as palm syrup. It is sold in bottles or tins and tends to thicken and crystallise over time. The boiled sap can also be solidified and sold as bricks or cakes. It can range in colour from golden brown to dark brown or almost black, like Indonesian gula aren. [5]

Use

Palm sugar is an ingredient in both sweet and savoury dishes used throughout Asia, [6] the Middle East, and North Africa. [7]

Local variants

Klepon
or onde-onde kue
filled with palm sugar (gula jawa
or gula melaka
) Ondeh ondeh kueh.jpg
Klepon or onde-onde kue filled with palm sugar (gula jawa or gula melaka)

Palm sugar is known by many names and variants depending on its ingredient, production method, or region. It is known as gula jawa (Javanese sugar) in Indonesia, [8] and gula melaka (Malaccan sugar) in Malaysia. A specific difference in palm sugar naming is seen in Indonesia; if it is made from coconut, it is called as gula jawa or gula merah (red sugar), [9] on the other hand gula aren (aren sugar) refer to palm sugar that specifically made from the sap of aren palm flower buds. Gula jawa has an earthy aroma and deep sweetness with a darker colour closely resembling molasses, [8] while gula aren has paler colour. [9]

Gula melaka is a type of palm sugar made from the sap of flower buds from the coconut palm, or less commonly, other palms. [10] It can be dense and sticky. It is known in English as "Malacca sugar", [10] probably because it originated in the state of Malacca, Malaysia [11] (Malay : Melaka). Traditionally, gula melaka is made by extracting the sap from the flower bud of a coconut tree. [11] Several slits are cut into the bud, and a pot is tied underneath to collect the sap. The sap is then boiled until it thickens. Next, the sap is poured into bamboo tubes 8–10 centimetres (3–5 in) long and left to solidify to form cylindrical cake blocks. [12] [11] Due to the labour involved in the production, it is often more expensive than the ubiquitous cane sugar. It is used in some savoury dishes, but mainly in the local desserts and cakes of the Southeast Asian region.[ citation needed ]

A bowl of gula melaka sago Ivinsf.JPG
A bowl of gula melaka sago

Gula melaka sago pudding is a dessert made with gula melaka [13] and a common hot or cold dish of Indo-Malay origin. Other examples include chendol and ondeh ondeh, a ball-shaped dessert made from glutinous rice flour, filled with gula melaka, and covered in shredded coconut.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Palm wine, known by several local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and is common in various parts of Africa, the Caribbean, South America, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Micronesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaggery</span> Unrefined cane sugar

Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Central América, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm 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% invert sugars, and up to 20% moisture, with the remainder made up of other insoluble matter, such as wood ash, proteins, and bagasse fibres. Jaggery is very similar to muscovado, an important sweetener in Portuguese, British and French cuisine. The Kenyan Sukari ngutu/nguru has no fibre; it is dark and is made from sugar cane and also sometimes extracted from palm tree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malay cuisine</span> Cuisine of Malay people

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<i>Kuih</i> Southeast Asian snack or dessert foods

Kuih are bite-sized snack or dessert foods commonly found in Southeast Asia and China. It is a fairly broad term which may include items that would be called cakes, cookies, dumplings, pudding, biscuits, or pastries in English and are usually made from rice or glutinous rice. In China, where the term originates from, kueh or koé (粿) in the Min Nan languages refers to snacks which are typically made from rice but can occasionally be made from other grains such as wheat. The term kuih is widely used in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, kueh is used in Singapore and Indonesia, kue is used in Indonesia only, all three refer to sweet or savoury desserts.

<i>Borassus</i> Genus of palms

Borassus is a genus of five species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Papua New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rice cake</span> Food item made from rice

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<i>Arenga pinnata</i> Species of palm

Arenga pinnata is an economically important feather palm native to tropical Asia, from eastern India east to Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines in the east. Common names include sugar palm, areng palm, black sugar palm, and kaong palm, among other names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tangyuan (food)</span> Traditional Chinese dessert

Tangyuan are a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls that are served in a hot broth or syrup. They come in varying sizes, anything between a marble to a ping pong ball, and are sometimes stuffed with filling. Tangyuan are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, but because the name is a homophone for union and symbolizes togetherness and completeness, this dish is also served at weddings, family reunions, Chinese New Year, and the Dōngzhì festival.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cendol</span> Asian cold sweet dessert

Cendol is an iced sweet dessert that contains droplets of green rice flour jelly, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. It is commonly found in Southeast Asia and is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Myanmar. Next to the green jelly, additional toppings might be added, including diced jackfruit, sweetened red azuki beans, or durian.

<i>Borassus flabellifer</i> Palmyra palm, toddy palm

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klepon</span> Indonesian traditional rice cake

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kue mangkok</span> Indonesian steamed cupcake

Kue mangkok or kue mangkuk is an Indonesian kue or traditional snack of steamed cupcake. Kue mangkok means "bowl/cup cake". It is similar to the snack bolu kukus. While both have a similar appearance, bolu kukus requires few ingredients to make, whereas kue kangkok requires more than a dozen in most recipes. The result is a different texure: bolu kukus is soft and fluffy, while kue mangkok has a rough, often chewy and sticky texture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahang</span> Indonesian traditional sweet and cold beverage

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Kaong palm vinegar, also known as irok palm vinegar or arengga palm vinegar, is a traditional Filipino vinegar made from the sap of the kaong sugar palm. It is one of the four main types of vinegars in the Philippines, along with coconut vinegar, cane vinegar, and nipa palm vinegar. It is usually sold under the generic label of "palm vinegar".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Indonesian cuisine</span> Cuisine of the people of Indian-Indonesians

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References

  1. "Palm Sugar in Germany" (PDF). Import Promotion Desk (IPD). CBI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  2. Vaughan, John; Geissler, Catherine (2009). The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. OUP Oxford. p. 107. ISBN   9780191609497.
  3. Borin, Khieu (1998). "Sugar palm (Borassus flabellifer): potential feed resource for livestock in small-scale farming systems". FAO World Animal Review. 91.
  4. Dalibard, Christophe (1999). "Overall view on the tradition of tapping palm trees and prospects for animal production". FAO Livestock Research for Rural Development. 11 (1).
  5. Eckhardt, Robyn (10 January 2017). "Confessions of a palm sugar addict". Saveur. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  6. Kitchen, Leanne (14 July 2015). "10 ways with palm sugar". Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). Australia. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  7. Heine, Peter (2004). Food Culture in the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 58. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Gula Jawa- Indonesian Palm Sugar or Red Sugar". Asian Fusion. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Coconut Sugar (Gula Jawa, Gula Merah)". Indonesia Eats. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  10. 1 2 Eckhardt, Robyn (10 January 2017). "Confessions of a Palm Sugar Addict". Saveur. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 Loh, A. (2015). Malacca Reminiscences. Partridge Publishing Singapore. p. 254. ISBN   978-1-4828-5489-3 . Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  12. Wee, S. (2012). Growing Up in a Nyonya Kitchen: Singapore Recipes from my Mother. Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited. p. 38. ISBN   978-981-4435-00-0 . Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  13. Sri Owen's Indonesian Food. Pavilion Books. 2014. p. 309. ISBN   978-1-909815-47-6. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2017.