The Art and Science of Jaggery Making: A Review

Jaggery is the most popular traditional Indian sweetener produced from sugarcane juice by concentration, without molasses being separated. It is a good source of minerals and nutrients, and has several medicinal values as well. With the increasing demand of this nutritive sweetener, efforts are being made to develop a standard manufacturing package that will increase its productivity besides quality improvement in terms of hygiene, standardization of shape, size and storability. The thermal and overall efficiencies of plants producing jaggery are very small due to the loss of thermal energy through flue gasses and un-designed plant parameters of construction. Storing jaggery is also a major problem. Since, the quality of invert sugars and mineral salts, which are hygroscopic in nature, is greatly affected. This intends us to study the technological upgradations used for the production and preservation of jaggery in order to prioritize the required advancements. This review provides information of the technical upgrading of manufacturing plants for jaggery and the preservation of jaggery using various storage and packaging methods.