Jaggery is a very popular item used in Indian houses and used for making multiple sweet foods. However not many know that jaggery has remedial value. It is because of the curative value and health benefits that ancestors have made jaggery a common item in our food eating pattern.
What is Jaggery
Jaggery is a very common food ingredient item used in the kitchen in Indian homes for many methods. Apart from the preparation of desserts and special sweets, It is used to add flavor and taste to many dishes.
Jaggery is a coarse form of sugar used for food and consumption. It is made from Sugarcane juice. The juice is extracted by crushing ripe raw sugar cane sticks. The juice thus extracted is heated in large vessels until it matures a thick concentrate and near solid. That is then made into blocks or made into rounds or needed shape using molds, and allowed to solidify.
Jaggery is perceived in Indian different languages as Shankara, Vellam, Bellam, Gud, etc. A variety of jaggery called Palm Jaggery is made from palm juice extract of date palms.
How jaggery is different from white sugar
Jaggery is unrefined. It is not reduced to any chemical bleaching process. In fact, no chemicals are added and the process uses simple evaporation by heating. Hence it is also made in villages near sugarcane farms without using any seasoned technology also. It is a good substitute for sugar with good sweetness. It has more than calorie value and has many nutrients and has nutrient and medicinal value and hence accepted as an ingredient in many Ayurvedic and native medicines. buy palm Jaggery
Medicinal value and health benefits of Jaggery
Indian Ayurvedic compounds use Jaggery, not sugar, in them.
- Supplies iron: Jaggery contains iron in an easily absorbable and digestible form. Iron is important and needed for blood especially for [product of hemoglobin. Hence jaggery is used in treating anemia due to iron deficiency. For the same reason, it is useful in pregnancy.
- Helps digestion: A tiny amount of Jaggery used along with or after meals enables digestion. It soothes the internal wall linings from tongue to the intestines and protects from the irritating food items like hot flavoring. Hence most full-course supper and meals used to have cheeses made using Jaggery similar the Indian Kheer, or payasam, etc. In many homes, elders used to swallow a small piece of jaggery after a meal.
- Jaggery has beneficial results in reducing the menstrual pains and cramps some women face during periods. Women during that time can take jaggery drinks or foods with jaggery. They can even press on a piece of jaggery, slowly tasting it.
- Jaggery, especially Palm Jaggery, is helpful to reduce fever. Black coffee prepared by boiling water, jaggery, and coffee powder and consumed when moderately warm results in perspiration and reduction of fever.
- Jaggery with a little ginger is incredibly important in stopping the vomiting occurring early morning, on an empty stomach, or when travel. In general, this cures reflux in adults and children.
- Unlike sugar, Jaggery contains many minerals like Potassium, Zinc, magnesium, etc. So jaggery is profitable as a tonic and preventive to various health issues. It can regulate and maintain healthy levels of blood pressure. It has anti-oxidants like selenium which promotes slow aging. The very famous preparation for supporting youth and vitality-“Chayvanprash’ seats jaggery along with other major components.
- Jaggery gives instant energy. It is due to this jaggery is used in the ‘prasad’ like ‘thrimodhuram’ given to believers in many temples early morning. The small amount of the sweet Prasad ‘Thrimadhuram’ which may contain fruit pieces can give needed service for the start of a day and can supply the brain its needed nutrients for the day.
- Diabetics, however, may regulate and moderate the use of jaggery as per their state of wellness and sugar level, as jaggery can increase sugar level. However, as jaggery is slightly less sweet than sugar and it is not a hundred percent sugar, approximately jaggery is preferable for diabetics rather than sugar.
- Jaggery can be used in cool drinks in harvest. Eating a little quantity of jaggery can reduce the ‘in-between-meals’ hunger for children and grown-ups.
- Jaggery helps as a diuretic and helps in reducing water reservation in the body.