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What is piloncillo?

Piloncillo is an unrefined sugar that is commonly used in Mexican cooking. The sugar has been around for at least 500 years, and was being made before the Spanish came to Mexico around 1500. It is made when sugar canes are crushed, the juice is collected and boiled then poured into molds, where it hardens into blocks. The fact that it comes in block form is one of the reasons why white and brown sugars are more commonly used, even in Mexican cooking, than piloncillo once was. To use it, it must be grated or chiseled off the main block - a process which is well worth the resulting flavor boost in food to some, but too time consuming for others to bother.

Unlike white sugar, which is flat and one-dimensional in its sweet flavor, piloncillo is smoky, caramely and earthy. It has far more flavor than brown sugar, which is generally just white sugar with a small amount of molasses added back to it. It can be uses in moles and other sauces, as well as to simple sweeten coffee or top off buttery toast. In most applications, it must be melted down to be incorporated into recipes. You can find piloncillo in many Mexican or Latin American grocery stores or order it online.

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Filed Under: Did you know?, Ingredients
Tags: brown sugar, brown sugars, caramal, did you know, earthy, latin america, mexican, mexico, molasses, north america, piloncillo, south america, sugar, sugars, sweet, sweetener, unrefined sugar

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

tunaranch

9-10-2006 @11:50PM tunaranch said... Looks like the sugar cane equivalent of Jaggery, which is made from palm sugar.
Reply

Jane Oakes

9-10-2006 @11:59PM Jane Oakes said... But it wasn't being made in Mexico before the Spanish came- they are the ones who imported sugar cane to the New World- it isn't an indigenous to this part of the world.
Reply

peabody

9-11-2006 @6:11PM peabody said... I love using it with sweet potatoes and just pouring cream over them after they have cooked down in the sugar.
Reply

MJ

9-29-2006 @2:08PM MJ said... This was a life saver for me when one sunday I was making candied sweet potatoes and had only a little white sugar and thought of this in my cabinet. I boiled down in a little water with the sugar I had and some butter and poured it over the potatoes and with fresh grated nutmeg and vanilla it was heaven!
Reply

4 Comments / 1 Pages

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