Jaggery featured in a big way while growing up. Mother insisted we had a piece of jaggery after meals, especially in the winter.
In the 80s, packaged foods were not that popular, and most households made their own snacks at home. So we always had mathri, namkeen and shakkar para, gur petha, chavana, etc. at home. Whenever we had cold and cough, mother prepared kadha and added gud. Even post pregnancy, she made atte ki raab and added generous amounts of jaggery in it.
No wonder I have such a deep affinity with jaggery. I don’t drink tea that has sugar in it, but add jaggery to it. My very first cup of black coffee was laced with jaggery that had made me fall in love with the bitter beverage. I add jaggery in kadhi and daal instead of sugar.
Here are some of the benefits of jaggery:
- Jaggery contains more nutrients because of its molasses content.
- It is believed to improve digestion and help in prevention of constipation.
- It contributes a little to your iron intake as well.
- It is a natural body cleanser and helps detoxifies the liver.
- It helps keep cold and cough at bay.
- It induces periods naturally.
I was told that desi gud is better than the lighter jaggery that is cleaned with harmful chemicals. Hence, I started ordering dark coloured desi gud and was fine with paying premium for it. However, when I found stones and flies in the jaggery blocks, I realised I needed to find a trustworthy supplier of jaggery who could supply me with clean and authentic jaggery. You know me, what products I use at home are the same ones I use for making goodies for my cherished customers as well.
In my research, I met Abhijit Inamdar of Synergy Hi Tech Agro. He came with high recommendations from people in the food industry. Abhijit took pains to understand my small business and explained his jaggery making process in detail.
Some of the information that he shared cleared some long standing myths for me.
- Synergy Hi Tech Agro uses complete stainless steel plant SS 304 for its jaggery making process. Even the pans used to boil sugarcane juice and racks to dry jaggery blocks are food grade stainless steel. Using stainless steel pans ensure there is no hazardous rust and associate harmful iron reducing microbes.
- Their entire jaggery making process takes place in an indoor facility vis-à-vis the traditional gud making process where the sugarcane juice is boiled in woks in the open air, inviting contamination from dust particles and ash from wood fire.
- The manufacturing process involves indirect low heating through steam that distributes heat evenly and ensures consistency par rapport the traditional woks that don’t distribute heat evenly to the sugarcane juice.
- No colours, chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides enter the entire manufacturing process.
I was quite impressed with their process and convinced with their authenticity. It’s been more than one and a half years since I have been using their jaggery, and I have found their quality to be consistent, and no stones, lint or flies in their jaggery blocks.
I use jaggery blocks for my business and cubes for home use. Just for your information, aged jaggery is dark in colour while regular jaggery has a comparatively lighter colour.
You can visit their facility that is in Satara district, and see for yourself their entire jaggery making procedure. Try their jaggery once and see for yourself how clean and authentic it is.
Address –
SYNERGY HI-TECH AGRO.
Mohite Nagar a p chitali.
Taluka Khatav
Dist Satara.
Pin code 415538
Ph – 83800 74916
The purpose of this post is not only to give voice to a genuine organisation, but also to help my customers and fellow industry friends find a reliable source of jaggery.