Jaggery from Palmyrah palm ( Borassus flabellifer L.)- Present status and scope

Palm jaggery is almost like a jaggery that is made out of sugarcane juice. Palm jaggery is made from the extract of Palm trees in Southern India. These trees are also known as Toddy palm trees or Palmyra trees. The Jaggery is processed from the unfermented Palmyra tree sap called neera. It is highly priced due to its medicinal properties 1 . It has an intense, earthy taste or reminiscent of chocolates in its taste. The palm jaggery obtained after processing is darker and richer in colour. It is slight salty to taste but much healthier of the two. Due to its cooling effects over human body, it is of high value. It does not have the bone meal content which is used for whitening processed sugar. The price of the palm jaggery is double that of sugar. Palm jaggery is quite popular in the Southern states of Tamil Nadu (called Karupatti vellam or pana vellam), Karnataka (it is called thaati bella in some places and Olebella in Mangalore, which is believed to be the best), Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In the South Indian families of the coastal region of Mangalore and also the Keralites of the Malabar coast, palm jaggery has a big role. It is used in the preparation of delicacies like payasams and neyyai appams. Mangaloreans use the same to prepare puddings and sweets. In temples, it is distributed with banana, or a bit of coconut, as prasadam. In Kolkatta city, West Bengal state, it is an important ingredient in sweets like Payeesh, Nalan gurer sandesh and Nalan gurer moa. Nutritional composition of palm gur is protein - 0.35%, fat (ether extraction) - 0.17%, minerals - 0.74%, carbohydrates - 90.60%, calcium 0.06%, phosphorus - 0.06%, iron - 2.5 (mg/gm), nicotinic acid - 5.24 (mg/100 gm), vitamin B1 24.0 (mg/100 gm), Riboflavin - 432.0 (mg/100 gm) and Vitamin C - 11.0 (mg/100 gm) 2