Pure Grain Jaggery (Pure Grain Jaggery Balls)

I've only tried 2 or 3 types of jaggery but this one seems a bit better than the others I've had. Clean and unique taste. Jaggery is often compared to brown sugar, molasses, honey and caramel. Unfortunately, there are many types of each of those so jaggery really is just something you have to try for yourself. To me, this one tastes like caramel with a distinct floral component. I take one of the balls and put it in a zip-lock freezer bag, then smash it with a hammer or rolling pin to make it into a usable "powder". So far, I've used this jaggery in black tea, as a topping for vanilla ice cream and in my Thai red curry. I didn't like it very much in my black tea because of it's floral elements (I don't like flavored or herbal teas) but love it in the other two. My only reason for four stars instead of five is that the "use by" date on the package is only about six months after the date I bought it and I'll never use it all that fast. But I'm sure that like most "use by" dates, the product will be fine well past what it says. It's not expensive so give it a try! Experimenting with new food items is fun!

I bought this as I wanted to make Indian Tomato Chutney. I really like the product. I did take one star off because if you try to pick it up just by the cap, the cap comes off and the jar falls. Fortunately I didn't lose too much when it fell and now I know to pick it up by the jar part and not the cap. I would buy it again.