What is the Jaggery and its Health Benefits.

If you don’t have diabetes, jaggery would be a superb substitute for sugar. however if you've got polygenic disorder, you need to avoid jaggery the maximum amount as you avoid sugar and alternative connected product. another excuse for this being jaggery contains a terribly high Glycemic Index – and a polygenic disorder patient’s diet should incorporates solely those foods with an occasional Glycemic Index.

Jaggery is also a simple carbohydrate. Except for the beneficial ingredients, the other ingredients it contains are the same as that of sugar. Hence, jaggery is not good for diabetes as it can elevate blood sugar levels.

But from a nutritional point of view, jaggery is always better than sugar. And there are other reasons as well.

Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in Asia, Africa and some countries in the Americas. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap (see palm sugar) 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 mixed with other ingredients, such as peanuts, condensed milk, coconut, and white sugar, to produce several locally marketed and consumed delicacies.

Historically, the sugar cane cultivators used crushers which were ox-driven. Nowadays all the crushers are power-driven. These crushers are located in fields near the sugar crop. The cut and cleaned sugar cane is put into the crusher. The extracted sugar cane juice is collected in a big vessel. A certain quantity of the juice is transferred to a smaller vessel for heating on a furnace.

The vessel is heated for about one hour. Dried wood pulp from the crushed sugar cane is used as fuel for the furnace. While boiling the juice, some lime is added to it so that all the wood particles are collected on top of the juice in a froth during boiling which is skimmed off. Finally the juice is thickened and reduced to nearly one-third of the original volume. This hot liquid is golden in color. It is stirred continuously and lifted with a spatula to observe whether it forms a thread or drips dropwise while falling. If it forms many threads, it has completely thickened. Now it is poured into a shallow flat bottomed tank to cool and solidify. The tank is large enough to allow only a thin coat of this hot liquid to form at its bottom, so as to increase the surface area for quick evaporation and cooling. After cooling down the jaggery becomes a soft solid which is now pressed into the desired shape for selling at the market.

The quality of the jaggery is judged by its color; brown means it is higher in impurities and golden-yellow implies it is relatively pure. Due to this grading scale there are malpractices of adding color or harmful chemicals to simulate the golden color.

Jaggery contains iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, etc. These vital nutrition are needed for proper growth and development. It contains magnesium, it is known for improving health of muscles and nerves. It fights anemia by improving the haemoglobin level in blood. It is also beneficial to regulate in menstrual cycles in women.

Jaggery is

·        A perfect natural cleansing agent.

·        Keeps the respiratory tract, lungs, stomach and intestine clean. 

·        Provides relief from constipation and indigestion if use regularly.

·        Accelerates the digestion by activating digestive enzymes.

Due to above reasons, it is eaten after meal in most houses in India.

Jaggery used as an ingredient in sweet and savoury dishes in the cuisines of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iran. For example, a pinch of it is sometimes added to sambar, rasam, and other staples. Jaggery is added to lentil soups (dāl) to add sweetness to balance the spicy, salty and sour components, particularly in Gujarati cuisine.

Other uses: It include jaggery toffees and jaggery cake made with pumpkin preserve, cashew nuts, peanuts and spices.

Besides being a food, jaggery may be used, mixed in an emulsion with buttermilk and mustard oil, to season the inside of tandoor ovens. Jaggery is also used in natural dying of fabric.

Written by Chandan Shrivastav on dated 16 Feb 2018

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