jaggery and other natural sugars, properties. Cont.

[Guest guest]

You are amazing, Mike, to source all this info. Is it readily

available by index in the Charaka books? Obviously, I have not

studied these ancient references. I own one volume, barely opened as

it is so densely composed and rather obscure to read.

 

How do you compare the sharkara jaggery discussed here with our common

white sugar, turbinado, and succanat, for instance, and is the lighter

yellow jaggery in the indian stores the same thing?

 

I have exposure from Hindi women to three pieces of info around this -

1. Dr. Shrestha calls the darkest most concentrated in minerals

jaggery (very hard to find even in indian stores here) the " most

refined " ! And recommends its medicine for the postpartum early days

iron rebuilding.

2. Mata Prema once showed me how she was boiling some jaggery in a

little water and then straining impurities (perhaps stones or sticks)

from it before using it in a sweet she showed me how to make. I was

not clear, it seemed perhaps she felt the batch was of inferior

quality, I don't think she does this with all her jaggery. But it was

the lighter yellow color.

3. Also, when I was doing postpartum care for her daughter who had

developed mastitis (from doing too much before I was able to come!)

and I was basically eating what I cooked for this mother and her

family, I felt the jaggery had a heating property which was

inappropriate for her with her high pitta and fever. (I had to be

gradual introducing some changes, and the strong habit of Mataji was

to put sweetening in the fennel tea being used in case of retained

placental fragments.) So we switched to I forget, maple syrup or

turbinado for their balancing cool effects. Was my perception correct

on the pittagenic influence?

 

It appears to me that the central American natural sugar you can buy

in Mexican markets in 1+ pound or kilogram solid chunks is very

similar to jaggery. Do you know? A Costa Rican woman caring for my

mother here explains it is very organic, no chemicals in processing.

I expect there are many fields grown with pesticides and chemical

fertilizers, however. What about jaggery?

 

The parasitic discussions are very contrary to what I would have

expected, unless it is that minerals are (as I have been told by

western cleansing modalities) contraindicated as a supplement in early

antiparasitic regimen, as they, along with b vitamins, most fats, and

especially red meats/hormones nourish the parasites. I wonder what it

is about the lighter jaggery that Dr. Dube felt was mildly antiparasitic?!

 

Warm Regards;

Ysha