Every Sri Lankan household has a bottle of thick, sinfully sweet kithul treacle at the ready to be poured over everything from toast to ice cream. This sticky syrup is derived from unrefined sugar, prepared from the treated sap of the graceful kithul palm. One of the best natural sweeteners in the country, alongside coconut palm jaggery and palmyrah jaggery, its soft, honeyed and sweet, without being sickly sweet. Another reason to love it is that kithual jaggery is not only delicious, but like honey, holds several health benefits.
Kithul is cultivated in various parts of the island, with several large plantations located in Kalutara, close by to many of the big Kalutara hotels such as the AVANI Kalutara Resort. Kithul tapping is a highly skilled and hazardous occupation. The kilthul palm is tall with a smooth bark that offers little grip to climbers. Historically, the job was dominated by a special caste of tappers, but today, it is a generally occupation among people who live near plantations. Tapping is carried out either the morning or evening, but never at noon when the supply of sap supposedly drops. The supply is also said to increase during the rains.
Kithul jaggery is used as a sweetener in loads of Sri Lankan recipes. It is the preferred sugar substitute to sweeten porridges, traditional rice dishes and rich local desserts like wattalapam. Kithul jiggery has gained in so much popularity over the years that it has now become the flavour of many modern desserts like cake and ice creams. The best way to eat kithul is to nimbble a chunk while sipping a plain tea or drizzle the syrup over a bowl of sour buffalo’s curd. The sweet and sour combination of the kithul and curd has to be one of the best desserts to experience in the island.
Fritzjames Stephen is a travel writer, who writes content based on the myriad of experiences and indulgences that the world has to offer travellers across all walks of life.
