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CeylonCookingAuthentic • Sri Lankan • Recipes

Coconut and Sweeteners

Coconut Treacle (Pol Pani)

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Dark coconut sap syrup, boiled down until it turns smoky, the everyday Sri Lankan pour.

  • Boiled long, so it is dark and properly thick
  • The everyday Sri Lankan treacle, not the rare one
  • Holds up in cooking where a mild syrup vanishes
  • Unrefined, nothing added
  • Pours slowly, the way treacle should
$12

Available to pre-orderSKU: CC-COC-TRC

Size: 350ml

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  • 14-day replacement on damaged items
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Description

Pol pani, coconut treacle, is coconut flower sap boiled until it darkens into a thick, faintly smoky syrup. It is the everyday Sri Lankan treacle, more common in most households than kithul because there are far more coconut palms than kithul ones, and it holds its own against strong flavours.

Ask for treacle in a Sri Lankan house and pol pani is usually what arrives. Kithul is the prized one, tapped from a wild palm by climbers who are getting harder to find, and priced accordingly. Coconut treacle is the one people actually keep on the shelf.

It is boiled a good deal further than the nectar, which is what gives it the dark colour and the deep, slightly burnt-sugar taste. Poured over curd it sets in a slow, thick line rather than running off the spoon.

It also cooks well. Kalu dodol, halape and a dozen home sweets are built on treacle, and pol pani stands up to coconut milk and spice without disappearing.

How to Use

  • Pour over buffalo curd or thick yoghurt
  • Cook into kalu dodol or halape
  • Sweeten a strong cup of plain tea
  • Spoon over string hoppers with grated coconut

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Frequently Asked

Different palm, different price, different intensity. Kithul comes from the kithul palm, tapped high up by climbers, and it is darker, smokier and dearer. Pol pani comes from the coconut flower and is the one most Sri Lankan households actually keep. On curd, most people can tell them apart instantly.

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