Making Of Karupatti / Palm Jaggery / Pana Sugar

Hi friends, I happy to share my village is popular in making of karuppati, So i think it of to post this karuppati making specially for you (my village)... It is an enjoyable and unforgettable moments for me and my son... I taken this picture 2 month before but it is in my draft for long time... So now i have the time to post this for you.... "Karuppati" has rich calsium content and blood purifying properties, say doctors... They recommend Black coffee as it also purifies blood..People now traet karuppati as organic food....

But sadly, we have no one from the younger generation to climb palm trees now.. Only few farmers over 40 years of age remain... The quality of saugrcane determines the taste and the colour... The dark brown is thennangkaruppati (from Coconut Kernels) has a mild sweet tastethe panangkaruppati (from Palm Kernels) has a refeshing earthy flavour... The vellam varieties sell at an average of Rs. 60 per kilo, the panangkaruppati is Rs. 210 per kilo...

It is used for making sukku kaapi, lehiyam and kasayam... In my native place, palm jaggery extraction is a well know cottage industry.. It is used in preparing many indian medicines especially the tamil medicines and healthy food.. When mixed with tamarind extract and dry ginger, it is believed to treat UTI and kidney stones.. It is also believed to be a healthy and less caloric sugar for everyone... 

Palm sugar was originally made from the sap of the palmyra palm, The date palm or the sugar date palm.. Now it is also made from the sap of the Arenga pinnata (sugar palm) and the Nipa palm, and may therefore also be sold as "Arenga sugar". Palm sugar is produced to tapping the sap from the inflorescence of the tree and boiling it down to produce a syrup, which is then sold as is, or allowed to crystallize into various shapes and sizes...

In some instances the tree itself is trapped rather than the flowering spikes, but this is an isolated production method... Palm neera tappers have to be extremely agile to shin up palm trees with only a circle of rope around their ankles for support.. The sap flows when the inflorescence is tapped but first it must be beaten (gently) with a mallet for a couple of days.. A small slice is taken off the end and a receptacle (usually an earthenware pot or gourd) hung close to the cut to collect the sap each night....

The sap is known as sweet toddy....This fresh sweet palm neera is boiled down shortly after collection to make palm syrup and palm sugar.. If this is not done, within a few hours the "sweet toddy" ferments into a sour, potent brew called toddy, a very intoxicating drink... It is the 'cheap grog' of tropical lands and is not fit to drink the next day..

To concentrate the nectar into soild sugar, the fresh juice is boiled down and evaporated before being poured into bamboo sections to form cylinder shapes, or into coconut shells, or into a earthenware pots (panai karuppatti), or into small baskets woven of palm leaves... They kept in direct sunshine to keep it dry and they taken away for that and it is sold... Palm sugar is soled in rounded cakes, cylinder, blocks or large plastic or glass jars...

Some of the useful things we get from palm tree are, Palm root (Panan kilangu). Thavun (Greminating seed), Panan Kuruthu (Tender edible leaves), Fuel from leaves and trunk, strong wood for construction, Neera / Pathaneer (Palmira juice) , Palm leaf fan and some crafts, Nongu / Nungu (Unripe palm fruit), a very sweet palm fruit and of course the palm jaggery also....

See how they climb the palm tree to take neera...

Look that it is neera from palm tree....yummy to drink that in baskets woven of palm leaves...

They used earthen pot for pouring the palm syrup..

This is neera for making karuppati, lets go into the process..

They pour the neera into the big pot called " Taj", 

which kept near the palm trees.. (small hut)

Bring to boil

They use dry palm wood for preparing heat

They wants to mix well with coconut shells bamboo ladle 

See how hot is this...

The colour is changed into light brown

Look the syrup, it is watery but should became thick

Process is going on....

Give a mix 

It is little thick (It taken morethan 45 mins..)

Give it a mix

See it is again little thick..

Now it is almost done (little more to thick)

Now give it a mix...(process is going on)

Look it became thick brown in colour

Now it's done (It is a correct consistency)

The perfect syrup is pour it into the coconut shells

They pour it slowly..

See the syrup is thick, so it thicken to make karuppati

Now it's done ...They kept it in safe place to became thicken

Now it's done

Remove from the coconut shell...

Yummy and delicious karuppati is done, 

to prepare any kinds of medicines

They pour this in earthenpot (panna karuppati),

they gave this to me.. I use this karupatti for my recipes..

Enjoy..