[Sca-cooks] jaggery?

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

>
>Usually the palm sugar is concentrated into heavy, moist, dark brown
>chunk although there are variations in moisture and color.  It quite
>often comes in hard, sticky lumps. If it does, be careful if you shave
>some off with a knife (don't ask me how I know this)...
>

This stuff wasn't moist at all... rock hard is more like it.  I had 
this box of jaggery for a year or more and never used it because it 
was just too hard to cut up.  A nice young man asked if he could help 
in the kitchen.  I handed him the jaggery.  After a few minutes 
trying to cut it with a knife, he asked if he could use a hammer and 
chisel instead.  He washed the chisel well, and now I have usable 
pieces of jaggery  :)

I used it in our 10th c. Irish feast, in the pears and wine, as a 
guess of what imported sugar might be.

Ranvaig