What is Khandsari sugar?
Khandsari sugar is natural granulated sugar made from thickened sugar cane syrup. Khandsari sugar is the form of sugar that was first made around 2000 years ago in India.
It’s also called the “Mother of all Sugars” since it’s the most raw form of sugar you can get from sugarcane.
Traditionally, khandsari sugar is physically extracted from liquid jaggery. It’s a staple product of khandsari units in western UP that process sugarcane to make jaggery. You can also say that it’s handcrafted sugar, created by artisans who have been doing it for generations.
Khandsari sugar is considered as whole food that provides necessary vitamins and fiber.
Outside India, it’s known as muscovado sugar.
How is Khandsari sugar made?
India is the birthplace of Khandsari sugar industry. The Khandsari sugar making was originally confined to the State of Uttar-Pradesh. But now it’s made all over India.
The Khandsari industry consumes almost half of the the total sugar cane production in the country. It employs about 2.5 million people.
Making sugar in traditional khandsari is a four-step process:
- Juice extraction
- Juice purification
- Juice concentration by open pan boiling
- Solidification of concentrated juice
To make khandsari sugar, sugarcane is first crushed to get sugarcane juice. The juice is boiled till it becomes a thick syrup or liquid jaggery. This syrup is of a dark brown colour.
The syrup is then left to dry for a couple of days. During this drying process, sugar crystals are formed. These sugar crystals are then separated in a mechanical, centrifugal machine.
As the process of separating sugar crystals is mechanical, no chemicals are added. This keeps khandsari sugar chemical-free.
This process also produces bagasse that is used as the furnace fuel for boiling the juice.
The recovery of Khandsari sugar is as low as 5.5 % in the traditional process. This is one of the reasons why it costs more than the refined, white sugar.
Is Khandsari sugar good for health?
Khandsari sugar is a healthy and nutritious alternative to sugar.
Khandsari sugar can balance the Tridosha in our body. In the Ayurveda, the root of all illness is an imbalance between the Tridosha – Vata, Pitta & Kapha. Khandsari sugar is the preferred sweetener used in ayurvedic preparations & medicines as it can help in restoring balance between Tridosha.
Khandsari is also helps in improving digestion as it has high fiber content. high fiber helps in the creation of stools in the bowels.
Khand can help cure anaemia and ensure healthy quantity of blood in the body as it’s rich in iron.
It is very tasty too and you will find no difference in taste while using it in your tea or coffee. Not only adults, even children will love this in their cup of milk. It does not have a strong taste like jaggery.
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Is Khandsari sugar healthy?
Khandsari sugar is one of the two healthy and nutritious alternative to sugar. The other option is jagery but it’s not suited for many applications like sweets and bakery.
It is important to use the right kind of sugar for daily use for a healthy diet. Khand sugar is the best option for most people.
We love eating sweet food whether it’s sweets, bakery products or tea and coffee. But commercial white sugar is bad for us as it causes so many diseases. Commercial sugar substitutes are equally bad for health.
Khandasri sugar, on the other hand, is neither bleached nor chemically processed. It is full of minerals and other nutrients, which definitely makes it a healthier choice than refined, chemically treated sugar.
Khandsari sugar contains the following beneficial elements:
- Calcium – strengthens bones and teeth
- Magnesium – good for nerves and muscles
- Potassium
- Fiber
- Iron
- Antioxidants
Every 100 grams f khand sugar, on average, contains 12 mg of Calcium, 2 mg of Magnesium, 29 mg of Potassium and 0,37 mg of Iron.
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Does Khandsari sugar taste good?
Khandsari sugar is very tasty. you will find no difference in taste while using it in your tea or coffee. It’s less sweet than white sugar but you may not notice the difference in your tea or coffee.
Not only adults, even children will love this in their cup of milk. It does not have a strong taste like jaggery.
Khand sugar dissolves easily in water, tea and coffee. Unlike jaggery, it does not make food items made with it brown.
It has mild smell of jaggery but you cannot smell it in your food.
Khand sugar is the best sweetener for making moong dal halwa, moong dal ladoo and other traditional Indian sweets.
What is the difference between white sugar Khandsari, and brown sugar?
The colour of sugar depends on the level of processing and refining.
The white sugar we get in the market is the most refined and chemically processed type of sugar. White sugar is actually a slow poison because it causes many deadly diseases.
When the sugarcane juice is being processed, it produces a thick, brown-coloured juice that is called molasses.
White sugar is made by separating the sugar from molasses and refining it further.
Brown sugar is made by adding back molasses to the refined sugar or during the refining process. Contrary to claims by sugar companies, brown sugar does not contain any nutrients and is only slightly better than white sugar. The only benefit is that brown sugar has about 33% less calories compared to white sugar.
Khandasri sugar, on the other hand, is neither bleached nor chemically processed. It is made by heating sugarcane juice till it becomes thick.
Because of this, Khandsari sugar is full of minerals and other nutrients. This makes it a healthier choice compared to both white and brown sugar.
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