Palm sugar

Palm sugar, also known as jaggery or
gur in India¹, nam som paep or nam tann peep in
Thai, gula melaka in Malaysia gula bail in Bali, or gula
jawa in Indonesia, is made from the sap from the palmyra, or sugar palm. The
trunk of the tree is tapped and drained of its sap for several months before the
sap is boiled down to a syrup. The syrup is poured into molds, directly into
containers, or further processed into hard crystiline chunks. Because it is not
highly processed like brown sugar, the color, consistency, flavor and level of
sweetness can vary from batch to batch, even within the same brand. The sugar
ranges from almost white to pale honey-gold to deep, dark brown in colour with
variable consistency.

There is no identical Western counterpart, but there are substitutes which
give a reasonable flavour likeness. If the recipe calls for a quantity of palm
sugar, use a mixture of equal parts maple syrup and either soft brown sugar or
black sugar (depending whether you desire a lighter or darker-coloured result)

Sugar palm trees are very tall and beautiful. They grow in most
parts of Thailand. If the palm sap is not used by the end of the day, it will
start to ferment and turn into palm sugar wine. In Thailand evening, some
farmers may sit under the palm trees and drink their homemade palm sugar wine
and get drunk. Later they ride their buffaloes home so they don't have to worry
about a 'drink and drive'.

In Thai, the word nam tann for sugar literally means palm juice. The
word 'peep' is the pail that palm sugar