Jaggery

In many parts of the Subcontinent, palm sugar and crude (unrefined) cane sugar are both called jaggery. Both are medium to dark brown and sold in hard disks or blocks, or sometimes as a thick heavy paste. Jaggery is available in South Asian and Southeast Asian grocery stores. Its name in Hindi is gur, and in Tamil it’s called vellam. Jaggery has a smoky taste, as traditionally made maple sugar does, from the cooking of the syrup (palm syrup or cane syrup) used to make it. Jaggery tastes less sweet per spoonful than brown or white sugar. You can substitute a blend of brown sugar and maple sugar, or just straight brown sugar, decreasing the quantity slightly.