Palm Sugar

Featured Ingredient - Malaysia

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Palm sugar comes from the palmyra or sugar palm and is produced from the sweet sap that drips from cut flower buds. Once collected it's boiled down to a sticky sugar. This is then beaten and dropped in lumps onto cellophane or into containers. Because it is not highly processed, the colour, consistency, flavour and even the degree of sweetness can vary from batch to batch.

You can buy palm sugar in Asian stores and markets, where they are sold in plastic containers, bags or in tins. The colour ranges from a light creamy beige to a dark  caramel brown, as does the consistency from soft  rock hard, depending on how long the sap was boiled. It has a fragrant smoky aroma

Although excellent for making sweets and desserts, the flavour of palm sugar also goes very well in curries and other savoury dishes.  You can substitute with brown sugar in most recipes calling for palm sugar although there will be a subtle difference in taste.

You can find  recipes using this ingredient on the main Malaysian Cooking by Country Page.

Happy Cooking!

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