JAGGERY SYRUP WITHOUT THE IMPURITIES

 

Jaggery is a classic sweetener used in Indian cooking and is made from evaporated sugarcane or date palm juice. I love its salty and earthy notes, which add a lot of character to foods be it sweet or savory. 

          Most of the blocks of jaggery comes with a lot of impurities which are hard to separate using an ordinary strainer. I use 2 sets of cheesecloths on top of a strainer to separate the impurities.

INGREDIENTS

1. 100 gms jaggery, scraped
2. 4 Tbsp.  water 

ACCESSORIES REQUIRED

1. small steel strainer
2. cheesecloth, 4 inch - 2 pieces
3. saucepans - 2

METHOD

• Scrape the jaggery and put it in a saucepan, along with the water and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. As soon as it comes to a boil, turn the heat so the syrup comes to a  simmer and the whole jaggery is diluted.

                                        

• Put a strainer on another saucepan, place 2 cheesecloth on it and strain the syrup. I have used a steel strainer so that the jaggery can be strained right off of the stove.

• Give the cheesecloth a hard press so that any syrup that's trapped in the cheesecloth strains through.
• Put the pan with the strained jaggery syrup back on to the stove and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Turn off when it comes to a boil.
  
  
  
• Let cool and transfer the syrup to a glass bowl and store in the fridge. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Wash the cheesecloth by hand and hang to dry on a dish rack. When dry, store it away for later use.
  
  
  

• The jaggery syrup can be stored in the fridge for a month. I use the syrup to make banana pancakes when I have overripe bananas. The blacker the skin of the bananas, the sweeter the end product.