Dealicious Mealz

Dealicious Mealz is a pantry label, and its range on our shelves covers two forms of traditional cane sugar. Gur is jaggery: sugar cane juice boiled down in open pans until it thickens and sets into a dense, toffee coloured block. Shakkar is made the same way but stirred as it cools, so it breaks into a loose, crumbly powder that is easier to measure and dissolve.

Both sit in our jaggery gur collection, part of the jaggery and mishri category. Next to them you will find palm and kithul jaggery, the darker, smokier sweeteners of South India and Sri Lanka, and mishri, the crystal sugar candy used for prasad and after meals.

In Punjab, a piece of gur after dinner is a habit as old as the dish itself, and in winter it goes into gur wale chawal, gajak, til ladoo, chikki and panjiri. Gur is melted into the dough for meethi roti, stirred into tea in place of sugar, and served beside makki di roti and saag. Shakkar is the one to sprinkle over a hot paratha with a spoon of ghee, to sweeten lassi, kheer and sooji halwa, or to dust over sliced fruit. Choose the block for slow cooking and sweets where it melts, and shakkar wherever it needs to dissolve quickly or be scattered.

Both forms draw moisture from the air and can turn sticky, so keep them in an airtight tin in a cool cupboard. If the block has set too hard to cut, grate it or warm it briefly, and break up any lumps in shakkar with your fingers. To compare with other brands, browse our full jaggery range or the sugar collection.