Kithul Jaggery-Mihirasa

Kithul jaggery, a natural sweetener, is made from the sap harvested from sap extracted from the inflorescence of the Kithul Palm that grow in the island. Harvesting of palm sap a tapper climbs up a wooden lattice tied to a side of the palm tree that usually grows up to a height of 40-feet. Then he makes a sharp incision at the base of a cluster of flowers that droop down from a branch like a bunch of grapes and ties a jute sack to the base of the cluster to collect droplets of sap trickling down from the flower. Once the sap is collected it is boiled over an open wood fire until it reduces toa sticky and intensely sweet syrup known as treacle with the color and thickness of honey,