If your tea lover then you have heard tea made with jaggery. It is very popular as a healthy and tasty option during cold days or even anytime. Using jaggery instead of sugar gives the tea a certain natural sweetness and is also considered good for digestion. However, jaggery tea often curdles and its taste is spoiled. To make your jaggery tea perfect and non-curdled, keep the following important things in mind.
Avoid direct contact of milk and jaggery
The main reason behind jaggery tea is the mixture of jaggery and hot milk. Some components present in jaggery react with the proteins in milk and cause the milk to split. To avoid this, jaggery should always be added last and should not be mixed directly with the milk while it is hot.
When to add jaggery?
Add jaggery only after the tea process is complete and after switching off the gas. First, boil water and tea powder together in a pot. Once the tea is well boiled, add milk as required and let the tea boil for another two minutes, so that it gets a good color and taste. Now turn off the gas. After turning off the gas, when the tea has cooled down a bit or you have strained it into a cup, add jaggery (or jaggery powder) to the cup and stir it with a spoon.
Try using organic tea
For tea, use organic and less processed jaggery, preferably a slightly yellowish, natural-looking powder, as it dissolves quickly and is less likely to cause cracking due to high acidity. When boiling milk and tea together, maintain medium or low heat to prevent overheating and cracking upon jaggery addition.
Health Benefits of Jaggery
- Jaggery tea acts as a natural sweetener as it is unrefined sugar made from sugarcane juice or palm sap. Jaggery's natural minerals and antioxidants, preserved during production, offer sweetness without the rapid blood sugar spikes associated with white sugar.
- Jaggery's anti-inflammatory properties soothe sore throats by reducing swelling and irritation. It also clears the respiratory tract of mucous, alleviating coughs and throat pain when consumed as jaggery tea.