If you’ve ever visited a Mexican mercado you may have spotted a cone-shaped sweetener on aisle shelves called piloncillo. Piloncillo, as it is known in Mexico and Spain, is actually just one name for the raw unrefined, minimally processed cane sugar that’s used in countries around the globe. In Colombia, the sweetener is known as panela; in India and other Southeast Asian countries, jaggery.
Much of what you’d read about piloncillo would be in comparison to brown sugar. Specifically you’d see it being referred to as “Mexican brown sugar.” The brown sugar that’s a pantry staple for most of us is white granulated sugar with molasses added; piloncillo, on the other hand, is an entirely different ingredient. Sugar cane workers, known in Colombia as panela producers, boil whole cane sugar juice into a thick syrup, then pour it into molds where the sugar dries and hardens into the cone, sometimes disc-shape found on store shelves, and in my pantry.
Slightly earthy and bitter with caramel notes, piloncillo, panela, jaggery have a complex flavor that brings depth to whatever dish in which it is used. In my own kitchen piloncillo cones get melted down and added to cookie dough and cake batters. It’s possible to grate piloncillo but it is a rock solid cone of sugar, making the process annoying at best and mildly scary at worst. Melting the sweetener down into a syrup instead saves our fingers and knuckles from grating injuries, and gives us a chance to infuse the syrup with other ingredients that pair nicely with the earthy, bitter, caramel flavor.
ncG1vNJzZmiZpJ2yor7TqZinmZSav6qtjaysm6uklrCsesKopGioX5bBbrTEmqmtZaCWu6KwxKugmmWgnrmwusKio6WnXZzCqrDE