A jaggery recipe; this gorgeous refreshing sugar cane drink reminds me of making my own sugarcane drink in a little village in Bolivia on the edge of the Amazon. My uncle Mikes version from a house in North London might not have the view but tastes just as good!
A wonderful jaggery recipe to replace actual sugar cane drink. Sweet jaggery, sharp lime and a hint of fresh ginger.
When I was in Bolivia I spent time in a small village and one of the days we spent the afternoon making our own sugar cane drink. A heady mixture of pure sugar cane juice and a squeeze of lime (with the odd bug for something to chew on)..
A sugar cane drink is an ideal summer thirst quencher. My uncles sugar cane drink with jaggery and fresh ginger is a real pick-me-up on a summer’s day, if you wanted a delicious cocktail recipe; just add a shot of Pisco the Peruvian brandy (or white rum).
Me? Drink? Never… 🙂
A brief educational digression before we hit the recipe – as it’s almost impossible to buy actual sugar cane in the UK Jaggery makes a very good substitute. Jaggery or Jaggeree is made from unrefined sugar cane juice – it’s literally pure sugar cane juice reduced down to an almost fudge colour syrup and set into blocks.
Jaggery has a lovely rich deep flavour that is popular in India and South America (in fact anywhere that has sugar cane!). In the villages sugar cane juice is pressed straight out of a sugar cane stick and has a lovely fresh sweet flavour which needs a hit of lime to offset the sweetness.
The added ingredient of fresh ginger in this recipe gives it even more depth of flavour but feels nice and healthy as well! I mean when you’re drinking that much pure unrefined sugar cane you need all the help you can get!
Sugar cane Juice Drink (jaggery recipe) – Ingredients:
4 tablespoons soft jaggery
2 inches grated ginger
Juice 1 lime
Sprig Mint
Warm water
Ice cubes to serve
Method:
Dissolve the jaggery in a few glugs warm water. Once dissolved, add about a pint cold water, the lime juice and ginger. Give it a good mix then pass through a sieve and pour over ice in two glasses and garnish with mint.
Goes well with two sun loungers, old friends and a few old travel tales of danger and adventure!
we have just been pressing sugar cane here in eastern Bolivia with an 80 year old Braziian machine. The main purpose is making golden syrup from the boiled down juice but with the three digit temperatures we have had for weeks, everybody can hardly wait for the cane juice to flow and pour it over ice and a little lemon juice. We cook some of the golden syrup down with totaí palm nuts and drizzle it over freshly made full fat yogurt. That should be worth anybody’s trip to Bolivia!
OH my!! That sounds delicious! I’m booking my flights now!
What’s wrong with the view? It’s as beautiful as the sunshine in that drink! On the other hand, Boliviaaaa………..