Central Travancore Jaggery is produced in different forms from sugarcane grown in the riverbanks and nearby places of Pampa, Manimala, Achenkovil and Meenachil rivers, in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta Districts and Chengannur Taluk in Alappuzha District of Kerala. The Central Travancore Jaggery is produced in solid, semisolid, liquid or powder form having very sweet taste, flavour and golden brown to brown in colour.
This jaggery is produced by crushing the cane in electric crusher, then evaporating the juice by boiling in open pans made of copper, aluminium or tin on country kilns using the sugarcane trash as the fuel, removing them at different temperatures (striking temperatures) to get different forms.
Quick lime (burnt lime/Calcium oxide) is used in low concentration and some times local plant clarificants (bhindi/okra) are used for lodged/immature canes while boiling to improve the colour and for better crystallization of the product.
Major forms of Central Travancore Jaggery available in market are ‘Pathiyan Sarkara’ and ‘Unda Sarkara’. The semi solid form, ‘Pathiyan Sarkara’ (pathiyan means malleable) is embedded with sugar crystals having good taste, flavour and golden brown to brown in colour and is stored in 25-30 kg tins.
The hand made ball form, known as ‘Unda Sarkara’ (unda means ball) is hard, easy for storage, has a prolonged shelf life and is golden brown to brown in colour. The liquid form known as ‘pani’ (Pani-means having liquid consistency) is being made and used for home purposes only due to its low shelf life.
The uniqueness of Central Travancore Jaggery is that it is very sweet, have good taste, appealing colour, adopt organic methods for processing and do not have the salty taste of jaggery produced from sugarcanes cultivated in the alkaline soils and processed using lot of chemicals.
The major sugarcane variety of the area is ‘Madhuri’ is being preferred due to its higher yield, appealing colour, crystalline texture of jaggery and the ratooning efficiency. The traditional variety ‘Java’, the yield of jaggery from this variety is comparatively less though colour and texture are good. This variety also has reasonable ratooning efficiency. The variety ‘Madhumathi’ is also a good jaggery yielder for the plant crop and jaggery is darker in colour than the above two.
The jaggery produced from good mature canes from the area has an appealing golden brown colour and is crystalline. The taste is also very good and sweeter than jaggery from the alkaline soils with no off flavour of salt. For preparation of Prasadams of various temples also the Travancore Jaggery is preferred adding to its high market demand.
The basic media for preparation of various Ayurvedic medicines is jaggery. The Central Travancore Jaggery is preferred for preparation of Ayurvedic medicines, for which Kerala is very famous, due to its appealing golden brown colour, higher sweetness and organic nature.
Jaggery itself has numerous medicinal properties and is mentioned in the Ayurvedic books. It is cooling, diuretic, refreshing and lactogenic, acts as tonic, cardiac tonic, normalizes semen & sperm and improves throat conditions. It is prescribed for use in diseases like anemia, jaundice, cold and cough, breathlessness, kidney problems, rheumatic conditions etc.
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Sir Your description of central Travancore Jaggery is very sweet.
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