Historically, sugarcane jaggery was referred as grandma’s medicine, as it was extensively used to get relief for various disorders including indigestion, metabolism, menstrual pain, anaemia, respiratory issues and joint pains. However, slowly and steadily the traditional processing of jaggery has shown a marked decline in Goa, as it is becoming economically unviable.
Unfortunately, today jaggery is rapidly disappearing from the medicinal shelves of Goan households and unless the government take immediate remedial steps to support this traditional activity, the traditional jaggery-making may eventually lose-out to the modern, environmentally-harmful and unhealthy white sugar of modern times.
The cottage industry of making sugarcane jaggery with traditional equipments has become scarce in the interiors of Goa and the activity is now mostly seen in some pockets of Quepem and Canacona.
Traditionally, the sugarcane cultivators used crushers which were ox-driven but nowadays they have switched over to rented diesel-operated belt-driven crushers that save money and time.
At the onset of sugarcane harvesting season these rented equipments are set up near the sugarcane fields to save transportation cost. The cut and cleaned sugarcane is fed in between the two gears of the crushing unit which move in opposite direction. The extracted sugarcane juice is collected in big drums and then the juice is transferred to a big vessel for heating on a furnace.
The vessel is heated for about one hour. While boiling the juice, some lime is added to decrease the acidity of the juice. All the wood particles are collected on top of the juice in froth during boiling, which is skimmed off.
Finally the juice is thickened and reduced to nearly one-third of the original volume. It is stirred continuously till it attains a golden color and then poured into a shallow flat bottomed wooden tank to cool and solidify. After cooling down the jaggery becomes a soft solid which is than pressed into the desired shape for selling in the market.
Speaking to Herald, a traditional jaggery-maker from Barcem Ganesh Shanu Velip said like other communities from Gulem and Chapoli in Canacona and Gokuldem, Subdalem, Khaddem, Shirlim in Quepem taluka they have been making jaggery for their own use since generations. He lamented that the activity was no more economically viable as it is labour-intensive and will eventually die a slow death unless government provides incentives.
