Panela is a wonderful sweetener, healthier than sugar. Discover the benefits and properties it provides, what are its main uses and how it is obtained.
Surely in your country you do not know it with the name of panela, but with the name of rapadura, raspadura, bundle candy, tapa de dulce, piloncillo, papelón, chancaca or panocha It is characterized by being a very healthy food, insofar as it can be used as a completely natural sweetener, without providing the empty calories that other less healthy sweeteners provide, such as white sugar.
Its only ingredient is sugarcane juice, which undergoes a drying process before going through the purification process, in which the juice is converted into brown sugar.
Panela stands out for being an organic product of one hundred percent natural origin, and we could say that it is characterized precisely by being the integral sugar of the cane in its maximum extension. That is, when we are faced with a panela, we can be certain that we are actually facing true whole cane sugar, and we should not doubt in the same way as if we are faced with a container with granulated brown sugar that could actually be dyed white sugar.
What is panela?
It is quite likely that you have already tried it, especially used as a sweetener in natural and homemade desserts, and surely you did not know its name; but what was it delicious? It is known by the name of panela, and depending on where you are, it is also known by other names: raspadura, rapadura, tied sweet, tapa de dulce, piloncillo, panocha, papelón, empanizao or chancaca. While in countries like Pakistan or India, it is known by the name of jiggery or Gur.
It is characterized by being a food whose only ingredient is the sugar cane juice, which is dried before going through the purification process. That same process that turns juice into brown sugar.
We are facing an extremely popular product in South America, where in fact it is known by a wide variety of names, such as raspadura, rapadura, sweet tie, sweet tapa, chancaca or piloncillo, among many others.
As we briefly explained to you at the beginning, we are faced with the juice extracted from sugar cane. It is original from Colombia, and its mild caramel flavor makes it a tremendously delicious option when it comes to sweetening desserts and drinks.
It becomes, in fact, a much healthier and more nutritious sweetener than white sugar, mainly because panela is a more natural, pure and artisan sweetener, which is also not refined or bleached, so it is healthier and more suitable.
In fact, among the most important benefits of panela that we find in this wonderful natural sweetener, we can especially distinguish its wide amount of nutrients, in which we not only find vitamins (especially vitamins of the B complex, in addition to vitamin A, C, D and E) but also with minerals (particularly calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, copper, zinc and manganese).
In addition, as you might imagine, it is a food very rich in carbohydrates, among which the presence of sucrose, glucose and fructose stands out, which have a greater biological and nutritional value.
Do you know how it is obtained and how to use it?
Obtaining panela is still done in an artisanal way. In this sense, for its production, the sugarcane juice is cooked and subjected to very high temperatures, until the moment when a very dense kind of molasses begins to form. Subsequently, this dense paste is passed through molds to allow it to dry, set and solidify. It is precisely these molds that give it its curious shape and appearance, whether in the form of a spherical cap, rectangle or prism.
A total of three vessels are used in the production process. In the first one, the cooking of the liquid extracted from the sugar cane begins, and then passes it to a second where impurities and the foam generated by boiling the liquid are transferred. And finally, the same process occurs until the third vessel is reached.
For its production, the sugar cane juice is cooked and subjected to high temperatures, until it forms a kind of molasses that is characterized by being quite dense. Later it is passed to some prism-shaped or spherical cap-shaped molds, where it is left to dry until it sets or solidifies.
Three vessels are used in the production process, which can be made of bronze or copper. In the first one, the cooking of the liquid from the cane begins. In the second, the foam and other impurities that have been generated as a result of the boiling of the first are passed through. Then, consecutively, the same process occurs until the third vessel is reached. However, the first of the vessels is the one with the best quality, standing out for being a semitransparent light brown solid.
This production is carried out mainly in small factories, which are traditionally known as traipses.
Benefits of panela
From a nutritional point of view, panela provides us with all the nutrients that sugar cane gives us in its integral and more natural version, so we are not facing a food rich in empty calories, but quite the opposite. We can highlight the following benefits:
- Incredible nutritional richness : panela provides us with interesting amounts of vitamins of group B, A, C, D and E, minerals such as zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, copper and manganese, and carbohydrates among which we can mention fructose (which has a higher biological value).
- It gives us energy: fundamental and necessary for the development of metabolic processes, also helping us to activate ourselves by acting as a totally natural energizer.
- It does not contain empty calories: which means that it is a sweetener that not only provides us with essential nutrients, it also does not “steal” nutrients from the body as it does with white sugar.
Nutritional properties of panela
In addition to being a completely natural food, which is made under totally natural production processes and in which no type of additive or preservative is used, panela provides very interesting qualities and essential nutrients:
- Vitamins: panela is very rich in vitamins of group B, A, C, D and E.
- Minerals: provides good amounts of phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc and copper.
- Carbohydrates: such as sucrose, in addition to glucose and fructose (which have a greater biological value).
- Proteins: although in less quantity than carbohydrates.
Taking into account its nutritional qualities and different properties, isn’t it an excellent food to replace white sugar and opt for it to sweeten your desserts and drinks?
So why substitute sugar for panela?
Already in 2009 a study carried out by the Autonomous University of Barcelona warned that since 2003 the total consumption of sugar per person had dangerously increased by 20%, going from 24 to 30 kg. Per person and year. The reason is obviously clear: we tend to think that we only eat sugar when we add it to our drinks or desserts, but the reality is quite different since many of the processed products that we eat every day, even if they are not sweet, contain sugars.
Moreover, as many nutritionists warn, in reality 75% of the sugar we eat every day comes from food and processed products, and we can find it in products as dispersed and as diverse as a vegetable broth, sauces such as salsa de tomato or mayonnaise, or even pickled pickles.
The conclusion is clear: a wide variety of industrial products contain sugars, but most consumers do not know it. And the problem is even greater, because many stop consuming sweets and bakery products with the aim of reducing their consumption of sugars but on the other hand they are unaware that they can continue consuming the same amount of sugar without knowing it.
However, when we consider reducing the amount of sugars we eat each day, we must not only eliminate sweeteners such as white sugar from our diet. It is also necessary to look at what foods we eat and eliminate completely from our diet. In general, the most advisable thing in this regard is to eliminate most of the processed products and opt for a balanced diet based on natural foods. A good example is the wonderful Mediterranean diet, so healthy and nutritious.
Another option is to substitute sugar for panela, a delicious completely natural sweetener option that also provides us with a good amount of essential nutrients, so we are not faced with a food rich in empty calories as is the case with white sugar.
