ShuddhGaon

Everything about jaggery, from a brand that does nothing else

Gur Gyan (गुड़ ज्ञान) is the ShuddhGaon jaggery guide. Many brands sell gur as one item among many. Gur is all we do, so this is where we write down what we know about it: how gur is made, what it is called from Punjab to Kerala, how much a cup weighs, why a block goes hard, and what colour, smell and a glass of water can and cannot tell you. Plain answers, and nothing about what a food does to a body.

Start here

  • What is jaggery powder? — It is ordinary gur in a form you can spoon. What jaggery powder is made from, how it differs from a block, what it is called across India and how to use it.
  • How jaggery is made — Cane, a crusher, a row of open pans and a fire fed with the cane’s own fibre. The traditional kolhu process, in the order it happens.
  • Jaggery in every Indian language — One food, a dozen names. What jaggery and jaggery powder are called in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and more, in their own scripts.
  • Jaggery in grams: the calculator — How much a cup, a katori and a spoon of jaggery powder weigh, how to swap sugar for gur, and a calculator that scales a recipe to the packs you need.

Jaggery basics

What gur is, how it is made and the forms it comes in.

  • What is jaggery powder? — It is ordinary gur in a form you can spoon. What jaggery powder is made from, how it differs from a block, what it is called across India and how to use it.
  • How jaggery is made — Cane, a crusher, a row of open pans and a fire fed with the cane’s own fibre. The traditional kolhu process, in the order it happens.
  • Types of jaggery — Cane, palmyra, date palm and coconut. Blocks, cubes, powder and liquid. Gold, brown and nearly black. A map of every kind of gur you will meet in an Indian market.
  • Dark vs light jaggery — Why one gur is pale gold and the next is almost black, what a bright yellow block usually means, and why colour alone cannot tell you which one to buy.
  • Powder, block or cubes? — It is the same gur three ways. What each form is good at, how to swap one for another by weight, and how to turn a block into powder at home.
  • Gur vs khand vs bura vs sugar — Six sweeteners from the same sugarcane, told apart by one question: how much was taken out of the juice. With brown sugar thrown in for good measure.
  • The gur glossary — Kolhu, kadhai, bheli, shakkar, raab, kakvi, hydros, khand, chashni: the words of the jaggery trade and the jaggery kitchen, each in a sentence or two.

In the kitchen

Measures, syrups, baking and the swaps that work.

  • Jaggery in grams: the calculator — How much a cup, a katori and a spoon of jaggery powder weigh, how to swap sugar for gur, and a calculator that scales a recipe to the packs you need.
  • Gur ki chashni: syrup stages — Every jaggery sweet is decided by how far the syrup is cooked. How to make a basic jaggery syrup, the five stages with the cold-water test, and which sweet needs which.
  • Baking with jaggery — Jaggery powder bakes like brown sugar with a stronger voice. The swap, the four adjustments that matter and the bakes it suits best.

Buying and storing

How to judge a block, a powder or a price, and keep it well.

  • How to store jaggery — Jaggery pulls water out of the air. Four habits that keep powder free-flowing and blocks firm, what to do in the rainy season, and how to tell a harmless lump from real spoilage.
  • What decides the price of gur — Loose gur in a mandi and a packed jaggery powder can differ several times over per kilo. What you are paying for, how to compare two packs, and where to see the mandi rate.
  • How to check jaggery at home — What can be added to gur, the one home test FSSAI itself describes, what your eyes and nose can and cannot tell you, and the things only a lab can find.

Origin and tradition

The cane belt, the named jaggeries of India and the festivals built on gur.

  • Muzaffarnagar gur and its GI tag — Western Uttar Pradesh makes more gur than anywhere else in the country. The districts, the market, the shapes the trade sells it in, and what the 2023 GI registration covers.
  • GI-tagged jaggery of India — Nine jaggeries hold a Geographical Indication, from Kolhapur and Marayoor to Muzaffarnagar and the nolen gur of Bengal. The full list, with what a GI tag does and does not tell you.
  • The gur festival calendar — Chhath, Lohri, Sankranti, Pongal, Ugadi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam: the dates for the year ahead, the jaggery dish each one is built on, and when to order.

Jaggery in your language

Gur in Hindi, gul in Marathi, vellam in Tamil, bellam in Telugu. Pick a language for the word, how it is said, what the powder is called and the dishes it goes into there.

  • Jaggery in every Indian language — One food, a dozen names. What jaggery and jaggery powder are called in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and more, in their own scripts.
  • Gud in English — Gud, or gur, is jaggery in English. The English names for shakkar, bheli, raab, khand, bura and mishri, and where the odd word jaggery came from.

गुड़ के बारे में, हिंदी में

  • असली गुड़ की पहचान — गुड़ में क्या-क्या मिलाया जा सकता है, घर पर कौन-सी जाँच हो सकती है, और कौन-सी बात सिर्फ़ लैब ही बता सकती है।
  • गुड़ कैसे बनता है? — गन्ना, कोल्हू, खुली कड़ाही और खोई की आग। गाँव के कोल्हू पर गुड़ जिस तरह बनता है, उसी क्रम में, सात चरणों में।
  • जैगरी पाउडर क्या होता है? — जैगरी पाउडर कोई नई चीज़ नहीं, वही गुड़ है जो चम्मच से नापा जा सके। यह क्या है, कैसे बनता है, इसे हिंदी में क्या कहते हैं और कैसे इस्तेमाल करें।
  • गुड़ की चाय कैसे बनाएँ — गुड़ की चाय में एक ही नियम है: गुड़ आँच से उतारने के बाद डालें। दो कप, आठ मिनट, और दूध कभी नहीं फटेगा।
  • गुड़ कैसे स्टोर करें — गुड़ हवा से नमी खींचता है। चार आदतें जिनसे पाउडर भुरभुरा रहता है और भेली सख़्त, बरसात के उपाय, और गाँठ और फफूँद का फ़र्क़।

Cook with gur

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