Palm jaggery market is 'sweet' in Mangaluru

A group of men with baskets filled with palm jaggery, the traditional ‘brown sugar’, line the highway at Nanthoor, Thokkottu, Pumpwell, B C Road and Nandigudde in Mangaluru, waiting for customers, who throng to purchase.

Speaking to DH, Ganeshan, one of the group members from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, said, “Around 16 teams from Tirunelveli have descended on Dakshina Kannada and the neighbouring Udupi districts to sell their produce.”

The sale of palm jaggery appears to be lucrative for the group, which has already sold 1,000 kg of jaggery in the last four days in Mangaluru. Ganeshan stated that the demand for palm jaggery witnesses a sharp spurt during the Pongal season in his home state.

Ganeshan said the jaggery is extracted from the sap of palmyra palm trees. “The sweet sap is collected from the trees, and processed to make jaggery. I have come here with six others. The sap is collected in a big pot, which is boiled in the using dry wood. The syrup is poured into coconut shells, and kept out for dry. We have brought 2,000 kg of jaggery for sale,” he explained.

“Preparing palm jaggery is our profession. Several families in Tirunelveli have been engaged in this profession for generations. We prepare the traditional sweet in large quantities at our homes and set out in mini-trucks for various parts of the country. We try to sell it across Karnataka. From Mangaluru, we will go to Mysuru, Bengaluru and Hosur, before setting our return journey,” he said.

Along with normal palm jaggery, the group also sells ‘shunti bella’ or ginger jaggery, which is further enriched by the addition of cardamom and pepper, costs around Rs 220 a kg as against the Rs 120 a kg for normal palm jaggery.

Ganeshan and his team members said, “Palm jaggery is better than the factory-made refined white sugar. With the number of diabetic patients increasing, traditional palm jaggery is back in demand for its medicinal properties. In addition, it is used in the preparation of Sidda medicine and other traditional medicines for pregnant women.”

He said there is awareness among the people of Mangaluru on the medicinal benefits of palm jaggery. “Jaggery can be used as a cure for cold as well. It could be directly consumed by people of all ages,” he said and added that palm jaggery is a natural food with abundant calcium nutrient.