How to use panocha in times of expensive sugar

No sugar, no problem

The rising price of white sugar, coupled with seasonal scarcity, has led Filipino consumers to wring their hands helplessly, confessing that there is nothing they can do to remedy the situation. The same is not true in the provinces, where in place of sugar, folks use a more nutritious, cheaper, and readily available local product—panocha.

Panocha, or panutsa, comes from the same raw material as white sugar. Sugar cane is crushed and pressed to extract its juice. The juice is filtered and boiled in huge metal vats, skimmed, and stirred often until it becomes syrupy. When it gets almost solid and too thick to stir, the brown dough-like panocha is then transferred to flat-bottomed pans or individual molds.

Matamis na bao origin

The most abundant—and free— molds in the provinces are coconut shells, by-products of copra (dried coconut meat). Hot panocha is poured into the cleaned half-shells and left to cool and harden. They are sold with or without the coconut shells but still retaining the shells’ familiar shape.

Similarly packed in coconut half-shell is coco jam or matamis na bao, the Pinoy’s breakfast and merienda filling for pandesal. Made of pure coconut milk and panocha, it was originally all homemade by housewives and small entrepreneurs in small batches until a Parañaque Nutrition graduate convinced a neighbor in the 1960s to expand her matamis na bao business and go commercial. Matamis na bao under the brand Cirilla’s Coco Jam was an instant hit. Its airtight flat tin can keep bugs and dirt away. Definitely more sanitary than a coconut shell and banana leaf, the cans were also useful for holding coins, small knick knacks, buttons, hairpins, etc. They were never thrown away.

Today, supermarket shelves display many brands of coco jam in various kinds of containers, although small entrepreneurs still whip up batches of matamis sa bao, peddling their products at public markets and trade fairs. There is a certain charm in buying matamis na bao in coconut shells from old ladies in far-flung towns, which we relive each time we spread the coco jam on our suman or pandesal at home.

An international favorite

Panocha, known in many parts of the world as jaggery, is a sweetener that’s becoming universally popular as a “healthy” alternative to sugar.

Basically, jaggery is an unrefined sugar product sometimes referred to as a non-centrifugal sugar, because it’s not spun during processing to remove the molasses.

It is known and used all over Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean under different names.

These products include:

Gur: India.

Panela: Colombia.

Piloncillo: Mexico.

Tapa dulce: Costa Rica.

Namtan tanode: Thailand.

Gula Melaka: Malaysia.

Kokuto: Japan.

About 70 percent of the world’s jaggery production takes place in India.

More nutritious than sugar

Jaggery contains more nutrients than refined sugar because it contains molasses, which are usually removed when making refined sugar. Molasses add a small amount of micronutrients to the final product.

The exact nutrition profile of this sweetener can vary, depending on the type of plant used to make it (cane or palm).

Panocha has a high molasses content, which lends a toffee-like flavor to both savory and sweet dishes. The rich toffee-like flavor and burnt undertones of panocha pair perfectly with some baked goods and savory dishes.

For barbeque sauce, use muscovado sugar instead of brown sugar to enhance the smoky flavor.

For chocolate baked goods, use muscovado in brownies or chocolate cookies.

Stir it into hot coffee for a complex sweetness that pairs well with the beverage’s bitter taste.

Swap brown sugar with muscovado to create an even stronger molasses flavor in gingerbread.

Muscovado adds a wonderful toffee flavor to glazes used on meats.

Use muscovado sugar to create a bittersweet caramelized taste when making ice cream.

Mix muscovado sugar with olive oil, acid, herbs, and spices to marinate meat before grilling or roasting.

Sprinkle it on warm oatmeal with nuts and fruit for a rich flavor.

Toss warm popcorn with butter or coconut oil and muscovado for a salty-smoky-sweet treat.

Use muscovado sugar to add a caramel-like sweetness to salad dressings.

Muscovado creates deep molasses-flavored confections like toffee or caramel.

So you see, many people around the world would not miss white sugar if it disappeared. Why should we?

Panocha, or panutsa, comes from the same raw material as white sugar. Sugar cane is crushed and pressed to extract its juice. The juice is filtered and boiled in huge metal vats, skimmed and stirred often until it becomes syrupy.