In Southeast Asia, Palm Sap Is Transformed Into a Sugar
That Hits Sweet, Smoky and Bitter Notes

Presented by
Join Robyn Eckhardt and David Hagerman

Palm sugar, a key ingredient in most Southeast Asian cuisines, is little known outside the region. Few fans of the dishes that benefit from palm sugar’s low-key sweetness are aware of the laborious process that turns palm sap into gold; fewer still know that this sweetener’s flavor profile can vary widely as a result of sap origin, production process and attention to detail on the part of the producer.

Join Robyn Eckhardt and David Hagerman as they take us from a town in southern Malaysia, where a retired imam cooks up golden gula Melaka (Malaysian palm sugar) delicious enough to be enjoyed on its own, to a village in Northern Sumatra where a second-generation maker produces dark and smoky gula aren (sugar from the aren palm). Along the way we’ll find out where this truly artisanal product comes from, how it’s made, and how it’s used in the region’s cuisines. We’ll also learn how economic realities in some parts of the southeast Asia may result in the eventual demise of asli (‘pure’ – that is, undiluted with cane sugar) palm sugar. We’ll taste some sweet and savory dishes that highlight the sugar and – border control willing – indulge in a ‘tasting’ of palm sugars that Robyn and David have collected on their travels.

Robyn Eckhardt, a freelance food writer, and David Hagerman, a photographer, have been living and eating in Asia (China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia) for over eleven years. Based in Kuala Lumpur , they publish the website EatingAsia (http://eatingasia.typepad.com). Their work (words and photos) appears monthly in Malaysian magazine KLue, for which Robyn writes a column on Malaysian culinary culture, and has been featured in Olive magazine (UK) and the Chicago Tribune’s ‘Good Eating’ Section. They are currently working on, among other projects, a book on Southeast Asian markets.

Program hosted at Kendall College.