Bella-Jaggery

Jaggery is called bella in Kodava Thak and is a concentrated product of cane juice. Bella Kappi is a popular drink in Kodagu which is consumed early morning during monsoon and also on a daily basis.

Preparation

Jaggery is usually made of sugarcane and toddy palm tree. To extract sugarcane juice crushers are placed in fields near the sugarcane plants, the cut and cleaned sugarcane is crushed and cane juice is collected in a large vessel. A certain quantity of the juice is transferred to a smaller vessel for heating on a furnace. The vessel is heated till the juice reduces to a thick  golden liquid .It is stirred continuously and lifted with a spatula to observe whether it forms a thread or drips while falling. If it forms many threads, it has completely thickened. It is poured into a shallow flat-bottomed pan to cool and solidify after cooling; the jaggery becomes a soft solid that is moulded into the desired shape.

Uses

• Jaggery is used as an ingredient in sweet and savoury dishes and is also added to lentil soups to add sweetness to balance the spicy, salty, and sour components.
• Jaggery is also used to make coffee. It is added as sweetener instead of sugar
• Jaggery may be used in the creation of alcoholic beverages such as palm wine
• Jaggery is used in natural dying of fabric