In my previous article about national tree of Cambodia #Palm tree, it explained about why palm tree is essential. Besides many benefits, it can also produced tons of brown sugar every year. Now, it is the season of palm sugar!
Just this weekend when visiting my family, I stopped at few houses that are producing palm sugar. It is one of the great experience seeing them making it.
How to make the palm sugar?
Pam sugar, also called brown sugar is a result from refining palm juice into sugar. Palm sugar is very essential in Cambodia cuisine thousand years ago. They are widely used not only in dessert or sweet, but in soup, marinating meat/fish - in short in every meal. Putting palm sugar is just tasty as soup powder. When I cook, I only put salt and palm sugar.
- Palm sugar is made from palm juice. Some people would eat breakfast by only put rice into palm juice and eat like that!
- Good palm juice is collected only 4 months each year - in dry season between December - April when there are no rain at all. When it rains, the palm would not produce palm juice. One tree can produce about 20liters of palm juice/day.
- Palm juice then will be pour into the big port and put over the fire (strong fire) and the person would sit and watch it until it becomes very thick.
- It has to be refined as soon as possible after collecting palm juices from the trees or the palm juice will turn sour - a sour palm juice [palm wine] that taste just like wine - cannot produce sugar from it anymorewas introduced here on Connect by @Austinelewex just recently.
- Final product of palm sugar is 2-3$/kilo. In the market, it costs between 5-8$/kilogram
- Brown sugar is a powder sugar, another process from the refining.
- Organic or pure palm sugar has a great aroma and taste so nice. People can tell the different between fake and pure ones.
Geographical areas for palm sugar [province]
- Kompong Speu province has much palm trees in Cambodia for the record, and also produces the #1 Quality of Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar.
- Prey Veng (my home province) has #2 quality, then
- Kompong Chhnang and
- Kompong Cham.
- Takeo
- Kompot
Watching how the palm sugar is made here
- Since it is become commercialized, then there are some factories that proceed it. Watch here how it is produced for commercialized.
- Here is the traditional way of making it. Here to make it a small piece.
- My video about palm sugar making.
Palm sugar is widely used in the cuisine in Cambodia, in food. Now, it is also being used in the caf’e which produced a great aroma coffee.
- Palm sugar is used as seasoning in meal
- It is used to make a sweet taste in dessert/sweet
- It can be eaten raw with yam or potato
- It can be used as the main ingredients in the coffee, in state of white sugar - taste better!
