Navigate | Local Flavour Sweetening the Deal Tapping into a sweet Sri Lankan secret By Vidya Balachander

considered ’s answer to maple The fishtail palm’s syrup. It tastes flowery, like single inflorescence is flora honey, yet not as cloying, and tapped for its sugary sap which with an undertone of warm spice like makes a sticky that of mulled wine. The secret of its treacle as well as unique flavour rests in the fact that it is solid ; A produced from the sap collected from jar of fresh kithul treacle (bottom). its flowers.L ike other palm products from the subcontinent, the supply of kithul treacle hinges on the dexterity of skilled tappers, who climb trees that can grow over 20 feet high. Armed with traditional wisdom about when the trees bloom (only once in their life) and form sap, tappers make a cut at the base of the stalk bearing clusters of flowers. A pot is tied to the tree to collect the precious sap, which is then thickened and purified over a wood fire before being bottled. Like the Bengali winter favourite nolen gur, a toffee-like liquid jaggery extracted from the wild date palm, Sri Lankan kithul is also a much- loved local delicacy. A complex and flavourful substitute for sugar, kithul is a quintessential part of Sri Lankan sweets such as pani walalu, a squiggly, jalebi- like sweet made of urad and which is dunked in treacle, and konda kevum, a spongy, deep-fried cake like the South Indian appe or paniyaram, flavoured with treacle instead of sugar. Kithul is now a staple in my pantry, I drizzle the treacle generously over pancakes or sliced strawberries for dessert. And when visiting friends ask me what to take back home, I urge everal years ago, on my I thought was honey. It reminded me them to tuck a bottle of kithul into their first-ever visit to Sri Lanka, of my childhood fixation with suitcase—in my book, it is a souvenir of I remember enjoying one sweetened with sugar. It wasn’t until Sri Lanka like no other. particularly memorable years later that I found out that the S the vitals meal at Beach Wadiya, a simple dessert was in fact a national glorified seaside shack in obsession, and that the syrup was not Kithul treacle is available year-round Colombo. An apt introduction to honey at all. It was kithul at most major supermarkets. However, the unhurried pace of life in the treacle, one of Sri Lanka’s commercial brands are often diluted island I would eventually call best-loved secrets. and taste sugary. Good-quality treacle home, the meal stretched over Derived from the sap of is expensive, but worth the premium. Outlets of Laksala, the government several hours and multiple courses the fishtail palm (locally handicrafts emporium, and the Good of freshly prepared seafood. But known as kithul) that grows Market store in Colombo are reliable the fondest memory I have of widely all over the Indian places to find good quality treacle.A t that day is of the final course: a subcontinent, kithul treacle Laksala, the premium variety sells at generous scoop of chilled yogurt, is a smoky, amber-coloured LKR2,400/`1,140 for 300 gm.

sweetened with a drizzle of what sweetener that could be (treacle) balfour/alamy/indiapicture benjamin (tree), flpa/indiapicture

54 national Geographic Traveller INDIA | april 2016