Palm sugar is the sweet substance that is processed from the sap of plant species belonging to the family Arecaceae or Palmae.
The main product, a crude sugar that is also referred to by various terms such as jaggery, palm gur and muscovado sugar, is largely used for sweetening purposes.
This information is nothing new, except that the advent of sugarcane and sugar beet as commercial sources of sugar has tended to put so much awareness on these sugar crops.
The distribution of palms also favors the tropical world.
Nevertheless, according to Hill (1972), the juice of some palms ranks as the fourth source of commercial sugar.
The raw material which is the plant sap, often called toddy, is extruded mostly through the inflorescence or through the terminal bud.
The sweet sap is harvested through a special technique called tapping.
In the Philippines, the coconut toddy tapped from young inflorescences is popular as a “poor man’s wine” and as a natural vinegar.
Freshly harvested toddy is whitish but added with a powdered bark of a mangrove tree, it turns reddish.
In some parts of the country, it undergoes a fermentation process to produce a tastier wine called “bahalina”.
In some other places, it undergoes a distillation process to produce a more potent liquor called “lambanog” which is a form of gin.
Recently, however, its use as a raw material in the production of coconut palm sugar has become popular.
Testimonial evidence has boosted sugar’s magical property as a medicine. Demand increased due to promotion by word of mouth.
And yet, production has waned.
The processing of the sap into brownish sugar essentially involves boiling the sap in a slow fire with continuous stirring to vaporize the water content.
However, crude palm sugar is not the only product from the sap.
The harvested sap has varied uses both traditionally and potentially such as fresh juice or for the manufacture of fermented drink, syrup, vinegar, wine, and refined sugar.
The potential of palm sugar as a source of high-energy feed for livestocks has been emphasized, primarily through two review papers on tapping of palms for sap authored by Christophe Dalibard (1997; 1999).
These two papers also supplied a comprehensive review on the traditional uses of palm sap. Visitors are hereby enjoined to read the listed references.
Accordingly, sugarcane can produce 5-15 tons of sugar in every hectare per year, but areca nut, Asian palmyra palm, coconut, and nipa palm can produce as much as 20 tons/ha of palm sugar per year.
Depending on species and individual trees, the sap from most tapped palms contains 10-20% sugar while maple tree only contains 3%.
The potential of palm sap as a source of energy is also high. According to Hamilton and Murphy (1988) cited by Dalibard (1999), a hectare of nipa palm can yield 6,480-15,600 li/yr; coconut 5,000 li/yr of alcohol.
In comparison, the alcohol yields from sugarcane and cassava are 3,350-6,700 and 3,240-8,640 liters per year in one hectare, respectively.
Alcohol is used as a fuel additive for automobiles.
However, the processing of palm sap to sugar by heat requires a high expenditure of energy.
A large volume of fuel would be needed. This is a concern that demands more attention.
In addition, it appears that the highly laborious tapping methods need to be improved. Other constraints have been identified.
REFERENCES
DALIBARD C. 1997. The potential of tapping palm trees for animal production. Retrieved December 17, 2011 from http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/resources/documents/frg/conf96htm/dalibard.htm.
DALIBARD C. 1999. Overall view on the tradition of tapping palm trees and prospects for animal production. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Vol. 11, No. 1. Retrieved December 17, 2011 from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd11/1/dali111.htm.
HILL AF. 1972. Economic Botany. TMH ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. p. 210-241.
