Borassus flabellifer, commonly known as doub palm, palmyra palm, tala or tal palm, toddy palm, lontar palm, wine palm, ထန်းပင် (htan-pin) or ice apple, is a fan palm native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is reportedly naturalized in Socotra and parts of China.
Image: Cây thốt nốt
Image: Borassus flabellifer, doub palm, palmyra palm, tala palm, toddy palm, wine palm, കരിംമ്പന
Fruit
Seeds
Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap 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 very similar to muscovado, an important sweetener in Portuguese, British and French cuisine. The Kenyan Sukari ngutu/nguru has no fibre; it is dark and is made from sugarcane and also sometimes extracted from palm tree.
A block of jaggery with a US penny for size comparison
Harvesting sugar cane without pre-burn – the abundant waste on the ground will be irrigated to release nutrients for the next crop
Jaggery preparation by heating juice in the vessel on furnace
Semisolid sugarcane juice drying in another pan for preparation of jaggery: a practice in India