Tag Archives: sweetener

Gula Melaka

Leave a comment Posted by on December 5, 2014

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Gula melaka (translation: Melaka sugar) is the palm sugar of Malacca and used as sweetener for Peranakan desserts (e.g. kuih) and beverages. The crudeness of gula melaka reminds me of Philippine panocha, likewise a raw sugar in hemisphere form but extracted from sugarcane instead. Whereas the panocha’s hemisphere came to be because half coconut shells were used to solidify cane sugar, comparatively, the cylindrical shape of gula melaka was formed by solidifying palm sugar in bamboo tubes. Charmingly crude.

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Balikutsa

Leave a comment Posted by on June 3, 2014

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When I was young, I would suck this lump of solidified sugarcane juice like candy. But now, I like using this as sweetener for coffee whenever available, and I got that from the Ilocanos.

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Looked simple but it’s very laborious to appear like that with all the repeated hand pulling (after the sugarcane juice was boiled and cooled), to make it white and solid but not stony. And then it has to be curled by hand.

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