Jaggery in Telugu: బెల్లం (bellam)
The Telugu word for jaggery, how it is said, what the powder and the palm kinds are called, and the dishes it goes into.
In short: Jaggery is called బెల్లం (bellam) in Telugu. Jaggery powder is బెల్లం పొడి (bellam podi). Said "bel-lam".
The Telugu words for jaggery
| In English | In Telugu | In Latin letters |
|---|---|---|
| Jaggery | బెల్లం | bellam |
| Jaggery powder | బెల్లం పొడి | bellam podi |
| Palm jaggery | తాటి బెల్లం | tati bellam |
| Jaggery syrup | బెల్లం పాకం | bellam pakam |
Telugu (తెలుగు) is spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Bellam in the Telugu kitchen
బెల్లం is in every Telugu festival. Ugadi, the new year, begins with a pachadi that sets jaggery against neem flowers, raw mango, tamarind, chilli and salt, the six tastes of the year ahead in one spoon.
Sri Rama Navami brings panakam, jaggery water with dry ginger and pepper. Sankranti brings ariselu, rice flour and jaggery pressed flat and fried. And bobbatlu, a flatbread filled with dal and bellam, is the Telugu cousin of puran poli.
What it goes into
- Ugadi pachadi. Jaggery, neem flowers, raw mango and tamarind.
- Panakam. Jaggery water with dry ginger, for Sri Rama Navami.
- Ariselu. Rice flour and jaggery, fried, for Sankranti.
- Bobbatlu. Flatbread filled with chana dal and bellam.
- Paramannam. Rice cooked with milk and jaggery.
Recipes on this site that cook with the same gur: panakam, puran poli and sakkarai pongal. All of them are on the recipes page.
The same gur, delivered
Whatever a kitchen calls it, sugarcane jaggery is one food. Ours is made from cane grown in the Muzaffarnagar belt of Uttar Pradesh, crushed on a village kolhu and cooked in open iron kadhais with nothing added, and sent across India as a powder and as cubes.
Jaggery in other languages
- Jaggery in Hindi: गुड़ (gud or gur)
- Jaggery in Punjabi: ਗੁੜ (gur)
- Jaggery in Urdu: گڑ (gur)
- Jaggery in Marathi: गूळ (gul)
- Jaggery in Gujarati: ગોળ (gol)
- Jaggery in Bengali: গুড় (gur)
- Jaggery in Odia: ଗୁଡ଼ (guda)
- Jaggery in Assamese: গুৰ (gur)
- Jaggery in Tamil: வெல்லம் (vellam)
- Jaggery in Telugu: బెల్లం (bellam)
- Jaggery in Kannada: ಬೆಲ್ಲ (bella)
- Jaggery in Malayalam: ശർക്കര (sharkara)
Every language side by side: jaggery names in Indian languages.
Questions people ask
- What is jaggery called in Telugu?
- Jaggery is called బెల్లం (bellam) in Telugu. It is the same food as the gur or gud of north India: sugarcane juice boiled down until it sets.
- What is jaggery powder called in Telugu?
- బెల్లం పొడి (bellam podi). It is jaggery dried a little further and ground, so that it can be spooned and measured like sugar.
- What is tati bellam?
- తాటి బెల్లం (tati bellam) is palm jaggery, made from the sap of the palmyra palm. Plain bellam is sugarcane jaggery.
- Is bellam the same as gur?
- Yes. బెల్లం made from sugarcane and the gur of north India are the same food under two names. ShuddhGaon’s comes from cane grown in the Muzaffarnagar belt of Uttar Pradesh and is delivered across India.