Dec 01 2006
Jihva for Jaggery: Palm Sugar or Panai Vellam
Thanks:Flickr
Palmyrah or Panai is very close to every Sri Lankan Tamil’s heart. We tend to use all parts of the tree. Northern Srilanka does not get much rainfall and Palmyrahs seem to flourish here. The scene above is how a typical village looks like from afar. I remember getting excited on seeing these trees when on long walks with my grandmother. Clusters of palmyrahs means human habitats and one can always request drinking water.
It’s been years since I left Sri Lanka. But, whenever I see a Palmyrah in India, I would be transported to Pungudutheevu, my home town. My family used to tease me a lot because I seem to remember more from the two years spent in Pungudutheevu compared to everything else - be it school lessons or even recent events.
Thanks:Flickr
As I said earlier, we tend to use all parts of the Palmyrah tree. The trunks are used as building materials. The Palmyrah has so many uses it’s practically impossible to list them all. To be truthful, I have even forgotten the different ways the Palmyrah was used back home. From what I remember the leaves were used mainly to make the sleeping mats. Narrow but lengthy coils of mats were also made. The mats were used when there are a lot of people in the house. These mats would be uncoiled and people would sit on them to be fed breakfast, lunch or dinner. Mats were also made to dry things on.
Containers of varying sizes would be made to store and transport goods both edible and not. One such container is called the ‘kadaham’ and it is so versatile. It could be used to transport paddy, rice, lentils or even cooked rice when there is a huge gathering to be fed. It could also be used to remove waste from the yard. We had 5-6 kadaham for different purposes. Puttu would be steamed in containers made just for this purpose. Well, being versatile, the same ‘puttu steamer’ would be used to drain water from washed rice and lentils. How long the ‘neethuppetti’ or ‘puttu steamer’ lasts depends on the usage. One household would have more than one and if more’s needed all one has to do is spend around 15 minutes to make a new one. Additional point in favour is that all these are bio-degradable and everything else is used as fuel.
Palmyrah tree has edible parts too. The mature fruit - ‘panam pazham’ could be roasted in fire and could be eaten just like that. Paniyaaram could be made from it and todate that remains my favourite snack. More on Panampazham and other countless uses of Panai or Palmyrah later. Another day, perhaps!
The reason for this post is ‘Panagatti’ ‘Karuppatti’, ‘Panai Vellam’ or Palm Sugar. The fruit when young and just forming would produce a sap that could use to produce ‘arrack’ - an alcohol. The same sap could be boiled to make Palm Sugar. The sap would be boiled and would be packaged in a container made from palmyrah leaves just for this.. You can see it in the photo above.
Palm Sugar - ‘Panangatti’ is used to make sweets. Unfortunately I dont know much about the recipes. [Time to call family, eh?;)] When young, we used to be given milk with a bit of palm sugar mixed in. It is our nightly ritual at home. I have recreated it here for Indira’s brainchild - Jihva For Ingredients. Kay of Towards a Better Tomorrow is hosting this month and the ingredient is Jaggery. With all my connection and passion to Palmyrah, how could I not participate. hmm?!
This is also my first time taking part in any online cooking event.
Hot milk infused with Palm Sugar
Recipe:
Milk: 1 cup
Palm Sugar: 1/2 tsp (or according to taste)
Boil milk. Add desired amount of Palm Sugar. Tastes very good on cold wintry nights.
Now to the non-regular recipe.
Caramelized apples with icecream
Recipe:
Apple: 1/2 apple
Palm Sugar: 1/2 tsp
Butter - 1/8 tsp
Peel, core and slice the apple. Add butter to the heated pan. Layer the pan with sliced apple. Cover and let it cook. Stir, once in a while. After about 2 minutes or once the apple is half cooked sprinkle the palm sugar. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.
On the serving dish, scoop out the icecreams and layer the caramelized apples.
In Tamil:
JFI:Jaggery - ?????????/??????????/??????????
for JFI-Jaggery hosted by Kay of ‘Towards A Better Tomorrow’
For more information on Palmyrah trees - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyrah
Kitul Pani: There’s another variety of Jaggery available in Sri Lanka. It’s the staple of Sinhala people. It’s called Kitul Pani. here’s some more info.
Dear Mathy: What can I say? Just perfect! from description to photos to mouthwatering recipes, I enjoyed reading your post. It’s realy an honor and many thanks for participating in Jihva.
Also I have to say major thanks to you for introducing me to palm jaggery. I remember your comment on palm jaggery in one of my posts and in that you have urged me to try it. Luckily I was able to purchase it here in Seattle. I have to say, I am addicted to the taste. Sugar cane jaggery is alright, but palm jaggery, oh boy… out of this world!:)
[…] ???????????? ???????? ???? ??????????: http://mathy.kandasamy.net/blog/2006/12/94 […]
I remember seeing this 4 years back in my friends farm, I have tasted it too. Wish I owned a camera back then to capture the making of Palm Sugar.
Is that Panankalkandu in the 4th picture ??
Beautiful Pictures and really enjoyed your write-up about Palm Sugar.
Indira:
Thankyou for your kind words Indira. Your posts and recipes have inspired me to recreate the dishes and lately i seem to remember your tagline ‘cooking with a conscience’ a lot.
btw, i went in search of the comment you are talking and was pleasantly surprised. I had written that comment exactly an year ago on Dec 1, 2005! And, this year I am participating in JFI. Imagine that!!
http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2005/12/01/onion-chutney-ulli-pacchadi/#comment-1342
Thankyou for everything Indira.
Priya,
Thanks for coming!
//Is that Panankalkandu in the 4th picture ??//
Yes it is.
If you ever happen to see any Sri Lankan store, do visit. You might strike gold!
//I remember seeing this 4 years back in my friends farm, I have tasted it too. Wish I owned a camera back then to capture the making of Palm Sugar.//
This has happened to me a lot. Esp, when I write about my childhood days in Sri Lanka. I searched the net for palmyrah related photos. Coudlnt find much. A Tamil blogger has commented in my Tamil Blog that he just returned from Sri Lanka. He said that he has even visited my island village. I’m on my way to pester him for some photos.
Wow! Just great! This is what make food blogs so precious. Loved this! Srilanka looks a lot like Kerala ?
Dear Inji,
Welcome! Hope you are doing well.
Abt Sri Lanka & Kerala: Yes Sri Lanka resembles Kerala a lot. Not just the landscape, the food habits (predominant existence of sea food - esp. fish, coconut and par-boiled rice in everyday diet), physical resemblance, language - there are quite a few common words too. My mom, till now gets mistaken for a Malayali. She lives in Chennai btw. It’s her physical appearance and accent that misle people.
So many of my relatives living abroad when going to India on vacation make sure they go to Kerala and Southern Tamil Nadu. Just to quench their thirst. Most of them cannot go to Sri Lanka for obvious reasons.
Thanks for dropping by Inji.
Mathy
Thanks so much for explaining in details about palm sugar and thank for your comment on my blog. I love the pic you have of the tree and the palm sugar
I read your post and wanted to comment long back but posted it in my blog itself. Though the source might be same palm sugar and date palm jaggery or khejur gur is very different.
Khejur Gur is obtained from Date Palm tree while palm sugar is obtained both from Palmyra and Date palm
I know the palm sugar you are talking about. We call it “Tal Michri”, it is very good for the throat and we used to suck on it whenever we had a cough or soar throat. Even now I get it from India to make a concoction wth basil etc. when anyone has a soar throat.
The khejur gur is rich deep brown in color & solid wheras the palm sugar is pale golden and crystalised as sugar should be. In my post I have link to an article which explains the process of making Khejur gur.
Your recipe looks delicious
–sandeepa
wow.. romba nalla entry.. naan enna solradhu.. romba authentic.. excellent…
Wow! That is superb!
I have no other words to say!
I am going to read it all over again.
ethai naangal panagalkandu’nu solluvom. I got palm sugar from a oriental store, which looks a lot like jaggery and tastes very similar to that too. any idea about how its different from this?
-
Suganya.
Hi Mathy , both Jihva entries look and sound wonderful! Specially, Jaggery milk.I used to have that at my grandfather’s farm house with fresh milk and Bella.Thank you:)
Nice entry for Jihva.I have tasted “Nungu”, i guess that is what you call Panam pazham…
Thanks for the detailed explanation.In my home, both this Jaggery milk and karupatti coffee both are alltime fav.s.
Lots of good information Mathy. The pictures have a lot of life.
Hello Mathy, a very nice write-up. Very touching, though you have not been overtly sentimental. I wish you get to go back to your home town one day and more, if that’s what your heart desires.
Sandeepa, Revathi, RP, Suganya, Asha, Maheswari, Delphine & sra : Thanks a lot for coming by.
Sandeepa: Thanks for the information. I will look for the khejur gur in the stores. It could be the same as the indonesian palm sugar. Need to ask my friends.
Suganya: The palm sugar you got could have been obtained from coconut palm or date palm. I have seen a few recipes in some books. There could be recipes in the south east asian blogs too. will share them with you soon.
Maheswari: Nungu is very much different from panam pazham. Some of my friends from Tamil Nadu have promised to send some pictures. Will share them with you [content for one more post. eh?]
Delphine: Thankyou very much. I am very sorry for your loss. I have visited your late husband’s blog once in a while. He was a great man. He would be remembered by a lot of people because of all his good deeds as a police officer.
sra: Thankyou! I am not that keen to visit my home town, as things are not the same. More keen to visit TN (a home away from home).
Thanks a lot for your kind words sra.
-Mathy
Hi Mathy,
I love the palm jaggery. Is it the same as deepichakkara, which comes in circular discs from lakshadweep in kerala and is dark brown in color? u also reminded me of how much i miss the panaelaneer..tender palm coconut.:(
[…] From: http://mathy.kandasamy.net/blog/2006/12/94 […]
Vanakkam
The Palm trees are also famous in Southern Tamilnadu ( Madurai , Thirunelveli, Thoothukodi, Kanyakumari ) & also in Southern Kerala.
Thanks for a wonderful blog on Panai Vellam.
Sure i will email you the Palm related photos ( when i visit Nellai later )
regards
Senthil Durai T