Sugar Palm

Toddy palm, Sugar palm, or Cambodian palm, is native to South and Southeast Asia.   The scientific name is “Borassus flabellifer” and English common name is “sugar palm“ or "Ice Apple".

The sugar palm fruit has a jelly consistency, similar to lychee .

Palm sugar is made from the sap of the palm tree. The palm shoot is cut and an earthen pot is hung around the palm shoot to collect the sap.  The juice collected in the morning which is not fermented, called "Pathaneer" in Tamil or "Neera" in Telugu has a refreshing, sweet taste to it. Once the juice is fermented, it becomes toddy. To read more about sugar palm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borassus_flabellifer

To make the palm sugar, the collected juice is boiled until  the juice becomes thick and almost a caramel color. When it is still in a liquid state, the melted sugar is spooned into round molds to harden. 

Once it hardens, the tablets are packed neatly in leaf packages made from the sugar palm tree leaves.