Is it time to switch from Sugar to the Goodness of गुड़ (Jaggery) ?
The exquisite smell of jaggery from any Indian kitchen announces with it the arrival of good things. Be it a small prasad offering at the mandir, or the celebration of a job promotion – the sweets made with jaggery always work like a charm. From Telangana’s Parvanam to Bihar’s Tilkut – Jaggery, for centuries has been the hero ingredient in sweets across the entire country, leaving its competitor sugar, way behind in the race of taste and health.
Sugar, rightfully so, has received the treatment of being the step-ingredient, but is still used as a sweetener in the everyday chai-coffees, not far beyond that. The convenience of sugar makes it much easy and less tedious but jaggery’s taste will definitely make all the effort worth it.
How different are sugar and jaggery really?
While both sugar and jaggery require sugarcane juice to be boiled, the process starts to take different turns after this. To give sugar the white and clear texture, it is boiled with bone charcoal, which absorbs the unwanted particles. The juice is then crystallized into cubes, the form which we consume. In case of jaggery, the sugarcane juice is left to boil and thicken into a paste which is later poured into moulding containers, which solidifies to gives us the blocks of jaggery that we consume.
All it takes is the one step difference to change the sucrose consistency. While sugar consists of simple sucrose which is instantly absorbed in the blood to be released as sudden bursts of energy, jaggery’s complex and longer chains of sucrose ensures that it is digested slower than sugar and the energy is released periodically.
Jaggery will help you in many ways, some of which are
1. Detoxifying the liver : Being a natural body cleanser, Jaggery reduces the workload on liver
2. Prevention of Constipation : Jaggery helps in prevention and relieving constipation as it activates the digestive enzymes in the body and stimulates bowel movements
3. Controlled blood pressure : Jaggery is rich in potassium and sodium, which are extremely important for maintaining the acid levels in the body
4. Weight loss : Being the rich source of potassium, jaggery helps in balancing the electrolytes, also in building muscles and boosting metabolism
5. Prevention of anemia : Iron and folate are 2 minerals which are abundantly present in Jaggery, and they ensure normal levels of red blood cells
6. Increased immunity : Jaggery is full of antioxidants, zinc and selenium that help in avoiding free radical damage and in increasing resistance against infections
Coming to the million dollar question, how natural jaggery is better than jaggery produced with synthetic additives?
When the Sugarcane juice is boiled, Sulphur is added to the solution to clear the solution of impurities and other chemicals like Sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrosulphite and phosphoric acid are also added to enhance colour. While in the natural jaggery, lady finger plants are used to clear the impurities from the solution to ensure no chemical enters your body while consuming Jaggery. To ensure that you get all the benefits of this amazing food, order natural jaggery from Safe Harvest.
