 During this past visit to India, we hired a cab to take us from Belgaum to Badami - to see the cave temples - and onwards. The route goes through some of the most rural and poorest parts of North Karnataka, with whole families helping in tilling the fields, sowing, weeding and harvesting. Sugarcane (kabbu) fields lined both sides of the country road. We passed this one with a small set-up to make jaggery (unrefined brown sugar, or gur) from the cane juice.
After a quick 'tour' of their operations, the overseer (foreman) in the accompanying pic insisted I try some of their jaggery! Yes, very delicious indeed! The gur has the consistency of solid fudge with a fine texture. It has a distintive taste making it ideal for sweetening indian desserts, such as payasam. A pinch of gur is also used to round-off the spice in many dishes, including the gujarati daal and the konkani delicacy - kadgi chakko.
From my childhood summer vacations in Bhatkal, I remember day laborers, even those who just stopped by looking for work, were offered a pot of water and a chunk of gur. It was fitting then that decades later I reciprocated and accepted this humble, but rich offering from a hard working laborer.
In one part of the field, the sugarcane is pressed to extract the juice. At the back, notice the composting pile.
The cane juice is first allowed to settle any impurities and then boiled in this huge open air vat. It needs to be constantly stirred to prevent sugar crystallizing at the top or settling. As the water evaporates, it starts to thicken.
The molten jaggery is poured in these rectangular trays in the ground, and allowed to harden. Then the jaggery is cut into blocks and sold to wholesalers. Jaggery is also poured into bucket shaped moulds, you can see in the back right.
The dried cane pulp is used to fire the vats. As the lady hauls the load, the young one stuffs it in the fire under the vats.
I nibbled on the jaggery all the way to Badami. No additives, nothing! Because jaggery remains unrefined, it also retains many of the natural nutrients and soluble fiber. I find from personal experience that it does not give a "sugar high," leading me to speculate that it should be better sweetener for diabetics, than refined sugar.
Certainly beats chemical laden candy bars, sold by slick marketing types making money for MNCs; so their executives can cash in their options and jet to exotic locales. |
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arunshanbhag) wrote,
October 25 2005, 02:43:52 UTC 6 years ago
My siblings and I aren't big fans of sugarcane or jaggery, both taste and smell-wise. The Kannada word for sugarcane is "khubhoo", and when we were travelling through Karnataka and passed by a field where they made jaggery, we would shout "Ghubhoo khubhoo!", which literally means "dirty sugarcane!" *headshake* It's funnier when you're 15 years old ;)
October 25 2005, 05:33:17 UTC 6 years ago
looks like you've travelled through Mandhya...or maybe hospet/bellary.
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October 25 2005, 02:52:06 UTC 6 years ago
October 25 2005, 14:01:10 UTC 6 years ago
Yes, reuse that was the amazing part of this. The pulp is used and the ash from the fires goes back in the compost pile! Very self sustaining. They just need a good price for their jaggery and they would be set. Heh, we should all use more jaggery. :-)
October 25 2005, 02:59:38 UTC 6 years ago
October 25 2005, 14:04:05 UTC 6 years ago
o, added you back!
October 25 2005, 07:36:30 UTC 6 years ago
October 25 2005, 14:06:01 UTC 6 years ago
October 25 2005, 08:38:02 UTC 6 years ago
October 25 2005, 14:06:39 UTC 6 years ago
and yes, he does have a very distinguished look about him.
October 25 2005, 14:37:08 UTC 6 years ago
when i was a child in taiwan, we used to buy sugar cane from street vendors and just take bites from it, sucking the juice out as we chewed it, and then spitting out the fibers. they also sell cups of juice that has been squeezed out of the can. it sounds almost as if i can make my own jaggery if i just purchase some of the juice and cook it myself...
October 25 2005, 16:03:10 UTC 6 years ago
They sell squeezed out sugarcane juice in India too, but it is freshly made right before your eyes. Especially in summers, it is extremely refreshing.
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October 25 2005, 14:56:41 UTC 6 years ago
October 26 2005, 01:29:21 UTC 6 years ago
jaggery, I suspect is more unrefined and the sugar is still complex with the fiber and other nutrients; thus once you take a bite of it, the sugar will be released more slowly in the blood stream. Thus you wont get the 'sugar high' and the consequent jitters, nor will you be 'down' after the effect of the sugar has been cleared. Also, because of the slow release of sugar, the body won't have to release a boat load of insulin to compensate!
I will keep an eye out for more info.
and fantastic about the meditations - never get around to doing it :-(
October 26 2005, 03:56:12 UTC 6 years ago
tell so i can explore too! though i dont know if i had plans to go to north karnataka.. but the beauty of it is that plans change, yes?
either post on my blog or send an email cos i dont think i will check this for some time :O)
cheers
-marina
p.s. oh and i am in pondy (where i did a lottt of sketching and drawing) and leaving to chidambaram today
October 27 2005, 01:12:36 UTC 6 years ago
Will e-mail more.
October 26 2005, 04:40:12 UTC 6 years ago
October 26 2005, 14:46:14 UTC 6 years ago
wow! Champa :-))
Did you read this?
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October 26 2005, 15:02:11 UTC 6 years ago
Interesting
Very interesting note and pictures. What you said about jaggery not giving a sugar-high is probably right, since it is unrefined sugar. Speaking of "gur", any relation between "gur" and Gurgaon near Delhi?(There is another type of jaggery-like thing called "chakkara" in Malayalam and probably Tamil too; "palm sugar" would probably be its English equivalent since it is made out of some syrup from palm trees -- that was one sweetener I used to love.)
GreenM aka Paappaan
October 26 2005, 15:26:51 UTC 6 years ago
Re: Interesting
Gurgaon: Interesting. a few years ago when I was visiting friends in Gurgaon, she mentioned the whole area used to be huge farms which were cut up to make the development. Perhaps, they were sugarcane fields?Palm sugar: Yes, I have heard of it. It is the same juice which gives us "Nira" and when fermented gives us Toddy. Apparently it has a slightly salty taste and quite a delicacy. I cant say that I have tried it? As a kid, I used to eat a variant of gur, which came in a dark ball. I was told it was scrappings from the side of a Gur-vat, which were dried and eaten as candy by the poor folks. Could that be from the same 'chakkara'? I used to love that!
whats with the multiple ids?
:-)
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October 26 2005, 21:35:40 UTC 6 years ago
This is very unrelated. Do people at strandbookstalls.com ever reply to emails?What is the way to contact them regarding queries for postage costs?
October 27 2005, 01:10:41 UTC 6 years ago
In your e-mail, address specifically to Mr Premanand Shenvi - I know him well.
In the past, I have just picked up the phone and called them :-(
Yeah, service!!!
BTW, the shipping for about 30 books to my brother in the UK cost about 500 rupees.
... and how are you?
6 years ago
October 27 2005, 07:08:56 UTC 6 years ago
also i like belgaum .. got lotsa relatives there.. its sooo slow and sleepy.. u could mistake it for a villlage in goa
October 27 2005, 14:19:04 UTC 6 years ago
particularly since I just finished off a small packet of coconut and jaggery "khadi/chicki" my sister-in-law brought back from india.
Would you be able to find a recipe for the coconut/jaggery khadi there. M did not have a recipe and I have an intense craving :0
... and whats with the SIL bringing back only a small pack! ack!
peanuts and jaggery, nutritionally too makes a great combination. Slow released sugar along with the high protein nuts! brilliant!
thanks for reminding. btw, what do you do?
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November 30 2006, 15:48:03 UTC 5 years ago
reminds me of the cartoons they had in the balbharti marathi textbook about making jaggery
November 30 2006, 19:57:39 UTC 5 years ago
now I know what alternate career to have!
:-)