Jaggery is a traditional sugar tasting product which is consumed in areas of the world such as Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The benefits of jaggery are in the way it is produced from unrefined whole cane sugar that has not been through the centrifuging process and is a cane juice, concentrated product. It has a sucrose content of up to 50% and up to 20% moisture, it contains some bagasse fiber which is the waste product from the crushing of the sugar cane, wood ash and protein. The color of jaggery varies from dark brown to a golden brown coloring depending on the amount of time taken in cooking the juice. Some areas of the world make jaggery using the sap from coconut palm, sago palm, date palm, palmyra and toddy palms while the Caryota urens tree is also used in Sri Lanka.
The traditional way of making jaggery is using large shallow round shaped pans or vessels similar to woks, where the palm sap or sugar cane juice is boiled to create a paste or concentrated syrup which is then formed into blocks. The benefits of jaggery are that it is more nutritious than other types of sugar because of its vitamin and mineral content. It can be added to many kinds of dishes where it can balance the sometimes sour, salty or spicy flavour of the food. It is used in many different sweet dishes and sweet delicacies throughout the world. It is also used in the making of beverages containing alcohol, especially rum.
It is said that the benefits of jaggery are in the way it is made as this is done without any chemicals, and in some places it is then considered a wholesome product. The mineral salt level is higher than that for other sugars and when consumed the sugar does not enter the blood stream as rapidly as that of refined sugars. In Indian Ayurvedic medicine this sugar product is used for the treatment of lung and throat infections where it is considered to be beneficial and is also used as a health tonic to improve the body.