‘Sugarcane jaggery made using time-tested method is more wholesome’

The festival of Pongal is around the corner and many have started making sweets with jaggery. Since we indulge in a lot of jaggery during this season, it is important to make sure that the jaggery is not adulterated. Food technologist Maria Jenita shares ways to identify good jaggery in the market.

“Food adulteration is a huge issue as it can have harmful effects on health. It takes a village to make sure that the product is pure, and so is finding the right and good quality jaggery. But how does one know the jaggery we are consuming is unadulterated or not. A good jaggery ferments, while one processed with chemicals doesn’t. Fermentation happens only when chemicals aren’t present in it, hence microbes thrive,” says Maria Jenita.

She shares an amateur way of finding out chalk powder in jaggery. “Take a glass of water and dissolve 10 grams of the jaggery sample in water. If jaggery is mixed with chalk, the adulterant will settle down at the bottom.”