How does the dark brown/black jaggery which is produced from sugarcane become yellow? “We use a chemical called sodium hydro sulphite to give the yellow colour which is preferred by customers,” admitted a farmer engaged in manufacturing jaggery in his agricultural field in Kavasambattu village.
Though the yellow jaggery cost more, jaggery merchants in the wholesale market in Vellore place more orders only for the chemical-added jaggery since customers preferred the coloured ones over the dark black organic jaggery which is safer.
The farmer said that he got an order for the first time from a dealer in Singapore this year for supply of two tonnes of the dark black organic jaggery for distribution to south Indian customers there. “Our people there are more health-conscious”, he said.
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