There are several different kinds of palm sugar you can find in Indonesia. The three kinds I feature here are the ones I have at home. In Bahasa Indonesia, they are called gula merah (red sugar) or gula semut (ant sugar). I have purchased this Indonesian palm sugar (coconut sugar) from COSMO, but I have seen these sugar packages at many different stores such as Grand Lucky, Carrefour, and Papaya, another Japanese grocery store in Blok M.
My Japanese friend who was visiting her parents living in Jakarta a couple of months ago made delicious chocolate chip cookies using the gula merah. I used regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and replaced half of the amount of sugar with gula merah (Indonesian palm sugar) and the cookies turned out very fragrant. I think you could use all gula merah for sugar, so maybe I’ll try that next time. They are locally produced sugar and I always like to support the local industry. I always have some gula merah in my pantry. I’m even taking some home as souvenir.
インドネシアでは色々な種類のパーム糖が手に入ります。こちらに載せた３種類のパーム糖は私がたまたま自宅に持っていたもの。インドネシア語ではグーラメラ（赤砂糖）またはグーラセム（蟻砂糖）と呼ぶ様です。私はこの上の写真のパーム糖（ココナッツの砂糖）をコスモさんで見つけて買いました。他の色々なお店、例えばグランドラッキー、カラフール、ブロックMにある日本食スーパーのパパイヤさんなどでも売っています。
ジャカルタ在住のご両親のもとへ帰省していた日本人の友人が、パーム糖を使ってとても美味しいチョコレートチップクッキーを作ってくれました。そこで真似して普通のチョコレートチップクッキーのレシピを使い、砂糖の半分をパーム糖に変えて作ってみたところ、とても香ばしいクッキーが出来上がりました。お勧めです。お砂糖全部をパーム糖にしても良いと思います。今度全部パーム糖にして作ってみようかな。パーム糖はインドネシア産だし自然のものなので、現地の産業をサポートする意味でも買っています。うちには必ずパーム糖があるようにしているんですよ。お土産としても持って行こうと思っています。
I found this one at Papaya in Blok M. I have not used it, but I like that it’s vacuum packed and the package is cute, too.
こちらはブロックMのパパイヤで見つけました。パッケージが可愛いのと、真空パックになっているのが気に入って買いましたが、まだ使っていません。
You can find this one at Carrefour.
こちらはキャラフールで買えます。
Grand Lucky
Location Map
Japanese Grocery Stores in Jakarta
COSMO
Jalan Bulungan No. 16
Jakarta, Indonesia
Tel: 021-7207112 or 081380006789
Papaya Fresh Gallery
Jl. Melawai Raya No. 28
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA 12160
KAMOME
Gedung Kamome, Jl. Melawai Raya No. 189 B, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan 12160
Indonesia
(0)21 723 5643
Have you ever used the block one ? It’s very good to make simple syrup for Kolak or Cendol. Combine it with coconut milk, and voila!
Mmmm. Now I will try that one, too!
I have never seen this before and I ma very interested. Do you use it like sugar in cooking? Is it sweeter than cane sugar? I’ll have to look for this in my health food store. Thanks!
Yep. Just like regular sugar. It has nice rich flavor and the best of all it’s natural.
i love the flavor of coconut, so i bet cookies with it would turn out great!
I agree with you Kaho, I think it’s great that it’s locally produced. and it’s organic as well!
Hi Kaho, I love this sugar as well and I use it instead of brown sugar called for in recipes because it is much cheaper and less processed if I am not mistaken. I recommend getting it at Hero though because it’s much cheaper! Look for the Hero brand. =)
Hero? No way!! Alright, I will check!!
In India we have a simple dessert which uses the jaggery(sugarcane or palm sugar) . The main ingredients are flour mixed with water with a pinch of salt and mix the palm sugar or jaggery with coconut in equal proportion. Make pancake with the flour and use the coconut and jaggery as stuffing and fold it over. It’s yum when warm cos the jaggery ,sugar and salt in the flour will have a great taste.
Wow, that sounds fantastic! We LOVE Indian food, by the way!!!
My name is Arif. i’m the online marketing of our products: Palm Sugar. follow our web on: http://www.gulakelapa.web.id ‘or’ http://www.mekaniranusantara.com