4 Easy Ways to Tell if Your Jaggery (Gur) is Pure

As we enter the festive season, let’s walk down memory lane of our favourite festive experiences. If you have ever lived in Mumbai, the lively atmosphere of Ganeshotsav is surely etched in your memory. The highlight of this festival is the much prized Maharashtrian delicacy called modak. The traditional sweet leaves a delicious burst of jaggery goodness and a yummy crunch of coconut in your mouth.

We all may have different memories of festive celebrations, but eating mouth-watering delicacies made from jaggery will always stay on top

Jaggery, the pride of India, has been a part of our diet since ages. It is not limited to being a sweetener. Jaggery is packed with vital nutrients such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C and more! 

Its health benefits are so significant, it has been used in a number of traditional remedies for various diseases, ranging from seasonal illnesses to digestive disorders. Jaggery is a complete package of sweetness and good health.

Adulteration in jaggery:

These days the demand for jaggery has risen due to the known health benefits. This high demand has led to markets being flooded with adulterated jaggery. However, the use of chemicals while preparing the sweetener can result in the loss of vital nutrients.

To reap maximum nutritional benefits, it becomes crucial to assess the quality of your jaggery purchase. Here are a few simple tests that you can try out at home.

Adulteration in jaggery:

These days the demand for jaggery has risen due to the known health benefits. This high demand has led to markets being flooded with adulterated jaggery. However, the use of chemicals while preparing the sweetener can result in the loss of vital nutrients.

To reap maximum nutritional benefits, it becomes crucial to assess the quality of your jaggery purchase. Here are a few simple tests that you can try out at home.

1. Appearance

Colour is an important parameter in judging the quality of jaggery. Does your jaggery look yellowish or white? Then chances are that it has been polished with chemicals.

Chemicals like sodium hydrosulphite are commonly used to make jaggery more visually appealing by giving it a bright yellow look. Traditionally made jaggery has an earthy appearance with a rich, dark brown colour.

2. Crystals

Observe the surface carefully. Do you see sugar-like crystals? Then it’s most likely that your jaggery has been adulterated with refined sugar. Jaggery has a lower amount of sucrose (60-80%) compared to refined sugar (99.5 %), making it less sweeter than the latter. Therefore, refined sugar crystals are added to enhance the sweetness of jaggery.

3.Taste Test

Taste a small piece of jaggery. It should have an earthy, sweet, coffee-like or dark chocolate-like taste depending on the type of jaggery. If it tastes too salty, then it has been adulterated.

4. Water Test

Jaggery is often adulterated with chalk powder to increase the volume.

The water test is a simple yet effective test to detect added impurities like chalk powder.

Here’s what you need to do: dissolve a piece of jaggery in water. Does the mixture look milky? Do you see impurities settling down after some time? Then that’s your indicator that the jaggery is adulterated with chalk powder. Ideally, jaggery should appear brown, glossy and translucent when completely dissolved in water.

These were some common methods to test the purity of jaggery at home. For precise detection of chemicals used to adulterate jaggery, there are laboratory tests available. One such test is conducted using alcohol and hydrochloric acid.

In this test, 3 ml of alcohol is added to half a teaspoon of jaggery. Then, 10 drops of hydrochloric acid are added to this mixture. The solution turning pink indicates that the jaggery has been chemically treated with the colourant metanil yellow.

Tips for your next purchase:

The best way to be sure that your jaggery is authentic is to always buy it from a trusted source. It’s recommended to go for a good quality jaggery that comes hygienically packed.

We hope this article helps you in your next healthy jaggery purchase.

Which of these tests will you try? Let us know in the comments.

FAQs:

• Why does jaggery have a brown colour?

 Jaggery is prepared by boiling sugarcane juice or palm sap till it thickens into a syrup. During the process, the juice or sap turns dark as the sugars, namely fructose and glucose start caramelizing, giving jaggery a dark brown appearance.

• Why does jaggery taste salty?

At times, jaggery stored for a long period of time can develop a hint of salty taste. The older the jaggery, the saltier it gets. This should not be confused with the high saltiness in fresh jaggery due to treatment with chemicals.

• Why does jaggery taste bitter?

The taste of jaggery prepared from Palm trees differs from the rich, sweet taste of Sugarcane jaggery. Palmyra palm jaggery tastes like coffee while Date palm jaggery leaves a dark chocolate like flavour in your mouth. But if your Sugarcane jaggery tastes bitter, it may been overcooked.

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