Jaggery, Honey & Sweeteners
Gur in blocks and powder, khandsari, mishri crystals and honey: the traditional sweeteners Indian kitchens reach for in sweets, tea, prasad and winter cooking.
Jaggery Blocks
Gur in cubes, round bhelis and moulded blocks, from sugarcane, date palm and palmyra, to break of…
Jaggery Powder
Granulated gur that spoons like sugar, for tea, kheer, halwa, baking and chikki, without hacking…
Khandsari & Mishri
Old-style khandsari cane sugar and mishri in lumps or on threads, for temple prasad, after-meal s…
Honey
Honey in its many colours and flavours, light and runny or thick and set, for drizzling, baking a…
Winter is when the jaggery arrives. In sugarcane country the juice is boiled down in wide iron pans until it thickens, then poured into moulds or worked into granules, and the smell carries across whole villages. This section of jaggery, honey and sweeteners follows that older side of the Indian sugar story.
Jaggery blocks are the classic form, cubes or round bhelis you break with a knife or a pestle. Jaggery powder is the same idea made easier to measure, spooned into tea, halwa or chikki. Khandsari is a traditional, less-refined cane sugar, and mishri is crystallised sugar, either big lumps or threaded dhaga mishri, commonly offered as prasad and nibbled after meals with saunf. Honey, collected by bees from flowers, varies in colour and taste with the flowers and season.
Colour alone does not tell you much about any of these, so lean on the pack. It should state the ingredients, the FSSAI licence number, manufacturer's name and address, packing date and best-before. For honey in particular, read the full label rather than relying on adjectives on the front.
Jaggery soaks up moisture quickly, so keep it in an airtight jar; honey that crystallises in cold weather can be loosened by standing the jar in warm water.