Palm sugar is not as candy as granulated white sugar and is present in savory dishes and desserts alike, from pad thai to bamboo sticky rice. Use palm sugar for extra authentic-tasting Southeast Asian dishes and desserts, or use it as an alternative choice to refined sugar in different recipes. Be considerate concerning the flavors you are pairing with palm sugar, although: Due to its wealthy consistency and taste, it should not be used indiscriminately. Caramelly Thai palm sugar is scrumptious when sprinkled over chai tea or whisked into salad dressing. The wealthy, molasses taste of Malaysian palm sugar, however, makes it a fantastic sugar substitute in denser baked items like butter truffles. Palm sugar of all varieties might be melted down right into a syrup and added to drinks or poured over ice cream, pancakes, or fruit.
Search for palm sugar at specialty meals shops or at your native Asian market. Watch out to not confuse it with coconut palm sugar, which is widespread in granulated kinds at huge field shops like Walmart. And if palm merchandise increase alarm bells for you, do not fret: Though palm oil plantations trigger devastating deforestation in international locations like Indonesia and Malaysia, there’s excellent news the place palm sugar is anxious. Sugar-producing palm timber thrive in areas with excessive plant variety and do not require the damaging plantation-style progress that makes palm oil so dangerous. If executed sustainably, palm sugar manufacturing could possibly be a wholesome various to palm oil manufacturing for Southeast Asian rainforests.
