Panela
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Panela (chancaca, papelón, piloncillo, panocha, rapadura, jaggery, gur) is an unbleached and unrefined sweetener made from sugarcane. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela and the surrounding area of South America. Variations are found in Mexico ("piloncillo") and India ("jaggery"). It is available in brick or cake form and is usually gold or brown in color.
To the untrained eye it may appear as though it is only brown sugar, yet because panela is unprocessed it contains more minerals than refined sugar (brown or bleached). Major manufacturers of brown sugar typically color refined white sugar with molasses.
Panela can be made into sweets but it is usually made into a beverage which can be served hot or cold. This drink, which is also known as "aguapanela" ("panela water") or just "panela", can have a milk or water base. It is common to also add some lemon or lime to the watered variety. Placing a chunk of cheese (queso campesino or quesito colombiano) in hot panela is also common and quite delicious, there's also a variety of panela which is made by adding water to panela and then boiling it, this is called "melao" which is used as a kind of syrup or as a sweetener in the lemonade, large amounts of this in the lemonade make a beverage called "zurumba".
Many claims have been made about the beneficial medicinal effects of panela because is has more Vitamin C than a glass of orange juice and as many rehydrating minerals as a bottle of Gatorade. It is thought to be helpful in treating a cold.
[edit] Mexico
In Mexico, the term panela is also used to refer to a type of bland white cheese with the consistency of fresh mozzerella.
