G is for GUR

winter jaggery
Originally uploaded by dalbhat

It is gur season, melt in your mouth gur.

Gur is a coarse, unrefined sugar made from the sap of certain palm trees known as khejur, and popular as an alternative to white sugars throughout the winter season.

In the mishti dokhan (sweet meat shops) everyone raves about the 'notun gur' treats that come in around this time of year. At the fruit sellers you can buy it in a syrup form or a sugar lump.

A slit is made in the khejur tree at night and a container is hung under this for collection. Early in the morning, you can enjoy khejur er rash, the sweet juice from this. To make gur from this juice it is boiled completely til all the yeast and bacteria are gone. A syrup or crystallized form can be made depending on the length of this process. As the day goes by, the rash will ferment and turn into what is called taari, an alcoholic drink.

Something I have done with the crystallized gur is to make sesame candies by roasting the sesame in a hot pan first and then melting the gur lump into that. Then, you spread the whole mixture into a pan and cut it up like fudge candy.