Jaggery is getting wider acceptance as a healthy and nutritious sweetener than sugar. The majority of traditional jaggery processing use chemical additives and neutralizers to achieve the desired colour and texture. This severely influences the health benefits of jaggery.
Sweetener is generally associated with happiness and celebration in every culture around the world. In India we celebrate our success in examinations, new jobs, arrival of a new member in family, with sharing of sweets. It is a symbolic gesture of sharing joy. The festivals are joyful movements of togetherness and often loaded with sweets.
In modern times, the sweetener has become a part of our daily food in a variety of forms, like hot and cold beverages, bakery products, ice-creams etc. The general sweetener used in our daily and occasional food preparations is refined sugar. Its cooking friendly form, texture, appearance and dissolvability make it a first choice of cooks in all cuisines.
Refined sugar processing
The refined sugar is the outcome of heavy processing of sugarcane juice with the sole purpose of extracting sugar crystals and treating all other elements in the sugarcane juice as trash. This makes refined sugar an empty calorie. Adding it to foods and drinks significantly increases their calorie content without adding any nutritional benefit. Research in different parts of the globe associates sugar consumption with metabolic disorders like weight gain while increasing the risk of various health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes and incidence of dental caries and tooth decay.
Changing trends with jaggery
There is an increasing trend of consuming organic and minimally / naturally processed food products mainly as immunity boosters and sources of vitamins & minerals. One such very popular product is jaggery, a pure, wholesome, unrefined sugar which contains the goodness of minerals and vitamins, popularly known as "Medicinal Sugar“– in Ayurveda. Jaggery is getting wider acceptance as a healthy & nutritious sweetener and as an immunity booster, particularly post-pandemic, online search for jaggery has increased significantly as shown in Google search analytics.
Traditional jaggery making
The traditional jaggery manufacturing plant has a primitive design and rudimentary operations. This leads to a) unhygienic operation, b) use chemical additives and neutralizers to achieve the desired colour and texture, and c) manufacturing of jaggery lumps that are inconvenient to use with limited shelf life. This severely influences the health benefits of jaggery. The jaggery consuming customers have a very limited choice of manufacturers for sourcing authentic chemical-free and hygienic jaggery. The majority of jaggery brands in the market are sourcing their jaggery from the traders or getting it manufactured in traditional plants without revealing the source of manufacturing. The jaggery brands claim chemical-free and hygienic operations generally do not produce evidence of the same to end users.
SARVAAY jaggery technology
We as technologists realized the challenges faced by the traditional processing and deceived to work on finding a solution. With more than a decade’s scientific effort, we developed Resource Efficient Jaggery Processing (REJP) technology to manufacture chemical-free and hygienic jaggery. The scientifically controlled process of REJP technology assures cleansing of sugarcane juice without use of any chemicals or neutralizers, thus retaining the purity and authentic taste of jaggery for you and family.
The jaggery powder and granules manufactured in the REJP plant are free flowing and crisp for effortlessness replacement of sugar. The REJP plant is operated and managed by women under the leadership of Dr. Madhavi Sardeshpande an IIT Bombay and NCL, Pune alumni, with lots of love and care.
We welcome you to visit our plant in Village Lavale, Pune by prior appointment to witness the unique manufacturing process and women empowerment. Our jaggery spreads health and happiness in harmony with nature and society.
Dr. Vishal Sardeshpande alumnus of IIT Bombay Oxford UK
Post pandemic
