Palm Jaggery is prepared from palm tree extract and contains minerals and vitamins in a great concentration. Palm jaggery has been an ingredient in various food preperations and in traditional medicine throughout history. Modern science is finding new applications of Plam Jaggery and its many constituents.
Palmyra jaggery also known as Borassus Flabellifier ‘BF’ is a native of tropical Africa but cultivated and naturalized throughout India. The coconut-like fruits are three-sided when young, becoming rounded or more or less oval, 12-15 cm wide, and capped at the base with overlapping sepals. The chief product of the Palmyra is the sweet sap (toddy) obtained by tapping the tip of the inflorescence, as it is done with the other sugar palms and, to a lesser extent, with the coconut. Rubbing the inside of the toddy-collecting receptacle with lime paste prevents fermentation, and there after the sap is referred to as sweet toddy, which yields concentrated or crude sugar (gur in India) Palmyra jaggery is much more nutritious than crude cane sugar, containing 1.04% protein, 0.19% fat, 76.86% sucrose, 1.66% glucose, 3.15% total minerals, 0.861 % calcium, 0.052% phosphorus; also 11.01 mg iron per 100 g and 0.767 mg of copper per 100 g.
Benefits of Palm Jaggery:
A sugar substitute with low GI
A natural source of Vit B12 and iron
A natural sweetener with health benefits.
Palmyra jaggery is a nutrient-rich, low-glycemic crystalline sweetener that tastes, dissolves and melts almost exactly like sugar, but it’s completely natural and unrefined. It’s acquired from the flowers growing high on trees, which are opened to collect their liquid flower nectar. This nectar is then air-dried to form a crystalline sugar that’s naturally brown in color and naturally rich in a number of key vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including potassium, zinc, iron, and vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6. It is never refined or bleached like white sugar. So the nutrients it was made with are still there. That’s rare for sweeteners, most of which are highly refined.