Asia Food Glossary Page

More than one kind of palm yields sugar, among them the toddy or kitul palm (Caryota urens); palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer); coconut palm (Cocos nucifera); sugar palm of India (Phoenix sylvestris); sugar palm of Java and Malaya (Arenga saccharifera). Those most prized are the palmyra and kitul sugars, and it is usually these which are bottled as thick palm honey of pouring consistency. See PALM HONEY.

When boiled down further, the sap of the palm tree is concentrated into heavy, moist palm sugar such as that used in Thai cooking, and sold in wide-mouthed jars from which it is spooned. The sugar ranges from almost white to pale honey-gold to deep, dark brown in colour with variable consistency.

When the palms are from 15 to 20 years old they commence flowering and it is only then that they yield the sweet sap from which palm sugar is made.

Toddy tappers have to be extremely agile to shin up palm trees with only a circle of rope around their ankles for support. The sap flows when the inflorescence is tapped but first it must be beaten (gently) with a mallet for a couple of days. A small slice is taken off the end and a receptacle (usually an earthenware pot or gourd) hung close to the cut to collect the sap each night. The sap is known as 'sweet toddy' and for those lucky enough to be around when this is brought in, has a taste of ambrosia. The fresh sweet toddy is boiled down shortly after collection to make palm syrup and palm sugar. If this is not done, within a few hours the 'sweet toddy' ferments into a sour, potent brew called toddy, a very intoxicating drink. It is the 'cheap grog' of tropical lands and is not fit to drink the next day.

To concentrate the nectar into solid sugar, the fresh juice is boiled down and evaporated before being poured into bamboo sections to form cylindrical shapes, or into coconut shells so they emerge as large shallow hemispheres, or into small baskets woven of palm leaves. In this form, the sugar has to be scraped or chipped from the rather hard block. This gur as it is called in India, or jaggery as it is known in Sri Lanka and Burma, gula melaka in Malaysia or gula jawa in Indonesia, is used on a daily basis in these countries as a sweetener. Be aware, though, that unrefined cane sugar is also sold in these shapes. Readthe label carefully to make sure you get palm sugar.There is no identical Western counterpart, but there are substitutes which give a reasonable flavour likeness. If the recipe calls for a quantity of palm sugar, use a mixture of equal parts maple syrup and either soft brown sugar or black sugar (depending whether you desire a lighter or darker-coloured result).Palm sugar is sold in rounded cakes, cylinders, blocks or large plastic or glass jars. The jars are easiest for spoon measurement but use a sturdy metal spoon because this sugar, even when soft, can be extremely dense and very sticky.

Sometimes the surface of the sugar is sealed with a fine layer of wax. Scrape the top before digging in so you'll know whether you need to lift off the wax first.