The Process of Making Brown Sugar

In Indonesia, brown sugar is a common name for coconut sugar and palm sugar. Although the method of making brown sugar from palm sugar and coconut sugar is the same, the two sugars have differences. They call it brown sugar because the color and shape are identical to one another. This natural sweetener has many benefits to add to the delicious taste and aroma of food. In addition, fresh drinks such as Jammu, coconut ice, and ice cream also use liquid brown sugar as a sweetener. Brown sugar is produced traditionally by coconut/aren sugar farmers. How is the process of making brown sugar traditional?

The process of making brown sugar

The following is the process of making brown sugar that is informed by brown sugar producers in Java:

1. Tapping sap

   Farmers make brown sugar using coconut or palm sap as the raw material, which is the result of tapping the flower stalks of coconut/trees. The process of tapping the sap is quite long because it is collected drop by drop. The results of sap tapping will be maximum if the air temperature is hot, if the weather is cold then the tapping results will be small. Farmers tap sap for one full day (24 hours) until it collects in large quantities.
   
   

    

2. Cooking the sap into liquid brown sugar

   When a lot of tapped sap has been collected, farmers will filter the sap to clean the dirt. After that, the sap is boiled in a large pan over a smoldering stove. Traditional brown sugar producers use wood-fired stoves. So not infrequently brown sugar will slightly smell of wood smoke. Producers of traditional brown sugar use a supporting ingredient in the form of mangosteen rind to speed up the evaporation of the sap. So that the sap solution will quickly evaporate and dry. The sap boiling process takes 3-4 hours until the sap solution thickens and dries easily. During this time, the mixture must be stirred so that the color does not turn black and burnt. If the dough is getting heavier to stir and pops a lot, then the dough is ready to be processed.

    

3. The process of making brown sugar
   Brown sugar dough that has thickened can be processed into liquid brown sugar, powdered brown sugar, and mold brown sugar. If you want to make liquid brown sugar products, just add water and cook again. Making solid brown sugar is easier because the cooked dough is printed directly on coconut shells or bamboo sticks. Meanwhile, powdered brown sugar takes time to make it smooth by sifting it through a wire sieve. The solid brown sugar will set within 10-15 minutes, but will also need to be fanned to remove the hot steam.