Panela in the mornings
TOBIA, Colombia — Many families in Colombia start their day not with coffee, Colombia’s signature crop, but with agua de panela. The key ingredient in the hot beverage is panela, a sweetener made by cooking the juice from sugar cane into a brown, sticky goo which is then molded into blocks. Unrefined and cheaper than sugar, panela tastes like a cross between molasses and brown sugar.
Though Colombia stands as the world’s No. 2 producer of panela after India, the industry remains rustic. Peasant farmers with just a few acres of sugar cane can build small mills and turn out tons of panela. About 300,000 Colombian families earn a living producing panela, making it the second leading source of jobs in the countryside after coffee.
Read more from Colombia:
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.