Palm sugar advice

Hi folks, I too had grabbed some of the champagen/atualfo mangos that have been around and have been having sticky rice with mangos. However one problem I encountered was trying to chip off little rocks of palm sugar to use in making the cream

Do folks have any tricks keeping their palm sugar so that it is not so rock hard?

I usually get the kind in tubs @ Thai Grocery. It stays pretty goopy. No chipping involved.

For piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar "cones") I usually use a grater.

Yeah, Zim, throw the brick away and spend a buck or two at Thai Grocery. I love cooking with the palm sugar: nice flavor and it dissolves very easily. Makes for a nice mojito, caipirinha, and any other drink that would benefit from simple syrup, I think. Coming to an overpriced lounge near you.

Zim, where did you get the palm sugar? Is it the bottled stuff (with the layer of wax atop)?
I normally break it up (all of it) into more manageable chunks and then store. Quick microwaving helps soften the palm sugar. This would vary on the palm sugar ¹. Ideally it shouldn't be too hard ². As CG & JeffB suggest and I recently came across – the tubs of palm sugar at Thai Grocer (IIRC $1.95) are excellent. It is soft and wonderfully fragrant and a much deeper brown than the bottled stuff. I was told that this jaggery was fresh and portioned out from much larger vats.

Have you considered using palm syrup (also)?


1. Palm sugar or candy is made by boiling down the sap/syrup from the (toddy) palm – much like maple syrup and candy.

2. I had some palm sugar (Indian) that I stored in my freezer – and it still stayed pliable. This 'jaggery' or (notun) gur is a different beast/quality altogether.


This is may also be of interest -

Erik M. wrote:Palm Sugar

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JoelF wrote:For piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar "cones") I usually use a grater.

I think these are from cane sugar. I know in India that there are two types of 'jaggery' or gur- from sugar cane (for which I use piloncillo) and from the (toddy) palm.

edit: A webpage on different sugars

sazerac wrote:

JoelF wrote:For piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar "cones") I usually use a grater.

I think these are from cane sugar. I know in India that there are two types of 'jaggery' or gur- from sugar cane (for which I use piloncillo) and from the (toddy) palm.

I had hoped that was understood -- I was just suggesting that what works for piloncillo might work for the palm sugar.

I'm a fan of the grater method, myself. I buy the pucks and grate them. I used to use jars, but after mangling and permanently scarring my knuckles on the razor-sharp rims (thanks, guys), I went to the pucks.

The inestimable Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim expounds on palm sugar:

Palm sugar comes in a few forms, in small rounds, in larger rounds, in a plastic jar, or even in a can. I find the small rounds that come in a plastic bag the most user-friendly. I keep mine in an airtight container. To use, I chop each round into smaller pieces to make it easier to melt.

When I need to do a precise measurement for a recipe, I put a few small rounds (about 50g or 1.5oz each) into a bowl and add to that one teaspoon of water per round. The bowl goes into the microwave for about 30 seconds (a bit longer if you are melting a large quantity, the sugar will melt enough so you could stir to mix well with the water, and you will be able to portion it easily with a measuring spoon.

http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2006/0 ... .html#more

mchodera wrote:The inestimable Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim expounds on palm sugar:

Palm sugar comes in a few forms, in small rounds, in larger rounds, in a plastic jar, or even in a can. I find the small rounds that come in a plastic bag the most user-friendly. I keep mine in an airtight container. To use, I chop each round into smaller pieces to make it easier to melt.

When I need to do a precise measurement for a recipe, I put a few small rounds (about 50g or 1.5oz each) into a bowl and add to that one teaspoon of water per round. The bowl goes into the microwave for about 30 seconds (a bit longer if you are melting a large quantity, the sugar will melt enough so you could stir to mix well with the water, and you will be able to portion it easily with a measuring spoon.

http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2006/0 ... .html#more

Yes, that was linked above in sazerac's post.

E.M.

Great! Now we know 3X is the charm!

Regards,

Doh!

Sorry, I didn't see the link in the previous reply...

thanks all for the replies (even if they were duplicates - I appreciate the effort)

It seems the general consensus is to get me some of from the tubs at thai grocery. To answer your question sazerac, I was using the bottled stuff with the wax seal, but no amount of microwaving/using an ice pick was doing much good. It wasn't jaggery/gur which I don't use much for cooking , more like a candy - got some very good stuff a while back from a butcher/grcery just a little west of ghareeb, I'll see if i can dig up the name.