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CeylonCookingAuthentic • Sri Lankan • Recipes

Coconut and Sweeteners

Coconut Jaggery (Pol Hakuru)

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Coconut sap set into hard blocks, grated over curd or melted into a sweet.

  • Set in the traditional coconut shell mould
  • Firm enough to grate, soft enough to chop
  • Deep caramel taste, unrefined
  • The everyday jaggery, where kithul is the special one
  • Sold in blocks rather than crushed
$9

Available to pre-orderSKU: CC-COC-JAG

Size: 400g

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  • 14-day replacement on damaged items
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Description

Pol hakuru is coconut flower sap boiled down and poured into a mould, usually a half coconut shell, and left to set into a firm, dark block. Grate it over curd, chop it into a sweet, or drop a lump into your mouth with a mouthful of plain tea, which is how it is most often eaten at home.

Jaggery is the oldest form of all of these. Before anybody bottled a syrup, the sap was boiled until it would set and poured into whatever was to hand, which in Sri Lanka is a coconut shell. That domed shape is still how you recognise it.

The block is firm rather than rock hard, and it grates on the coarse side of a box grater. Some cooks chop it with a knife instead, which works if you angle the blade rather than trying to cut straight down.

The old way of eating it needs no recipe at all. Bite a corner off, take a mouthful of hot plain tea, and let the two meet. That is afternoon tea in a great many Sri Lankan houses.

How to Use

  • Grate over buffalo curd
  • Chop into kavum or aluwa batter
  • Melt with coconut milk for a quick sauce
  • Take a corner with a mouthful of plain tea

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Frequently Asked

The palm. Coconut jaggery comes from the coconut flower and is the everyday block found in most kitchens. Kithul hakuru comes from the kithul palm, tapped by climbers, and has a darker, more resinous taste with a price to match. Side by side, kithul is noticeably stronger.

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