Now ... Sweetness ... Nam Tan Preep

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, TV friends,

May I have the pleasure of introducing you (or reminding you) of a sugar with the most exquisite range of tastes (some batches remind me of butterscotch, others of cinnamon, your mileage may vary). If you have eaten dishes like a panag curry, and many other Thai foods, you've already partaken. Perhaps RealThaiDeal will chime in here with some culinary wisdom from the vast restaurant and cookbook that is his brain.

The last word (syllable) in the name of this delectable sugar "preep" is pronounced in a rising high tone almost as if you were saying "cheep" while imitating a bird : quite delightful when you hear it said by Thais !

What is the sugar with the lowest glycemic index in the world ? What sugar has more minerals per unit than all other sugars ? What sugar souce can produce at least 50% more sugar per unit of land than cane sugar while consuming less than fifth of soil nutrients ? What sugar source can grow on soil other sugar sources cannot grow on, and most other vegetables or trees can't grow on ? What sugar contains only small fractions of glucose and fructose (compared with other sources, like Agave, or fruits) ? What sugar releases slowly in the human body over time resulting in less ups-and-downs of blood sugar ?

Well, read all about it here :

http://www.sweet-tree.biz/

"Nam tan preep" : coconut palm sugar. The aphrodisiac of sugars. Produced only by the female trees. The trees are reported to grow as far north as Lampang, I hear.

Dangerous work, the harvesting of the sugar : once you begin to tap the "bulb" up in the tall female tree, and the sticky sap starts flowing, it must be tapped every day or it will "shut down."

And the harvest can be during the rainy season : many tappers fall off the ladder, many broken bones, I hear. Hope to visit a plantation one day and see the tapping for myself.

In Thailand much of the time the palm tree sugar on offer (remember we are not talking about the palm tree species used for palm oil) is [edit] often (but not always) mixed with cane sugar (nam oi gon) or with maltodextrin. If it has a bright golden color with an almost yellowish or "mustard" tint, it has most likely been processed chemically to change the color (bleached), but the natural product can exhibit a wide range of colors from a dark brownish to a very golden bronze.

I note that my local Rimping (Nawarat) is not carrying the big packs of this palm sugar they used to carry from the Mittr Phool (spelling ?) company right now.

enjoy the sweetness, best, ~o:37;

Edited July 22, 2009 by orang37

[IanForbes]

Thanks for that, Orang. I have a sweet tooth and know the variety of tastes that different sugars have. Fortunately, I haven't ruined my tastebuds by smoking or drinking to excess.

Oh, and RealThaiDeal is currently in an Alaskan fishing camp using his culinary skills to impress the clients. He just sent me a message tonight.

[eek]

Learn something new everyday. Thanks! I really have a sweet tooth. Real weakness. That and caffeine.

....ice coffee playing on my mind now.

[noise]

I note that my local Rimping (Nawarat) is not carrying the big packs of this palm sugar they used to carry from the Mittr Phool (spelling ?) company right now.

wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just buy it at the open markets all over town? I say that in that we never have a problem buying it at those but don't worry about brand name or fancy packaging. Never had any problem with quality/taste.

Edited July 23, 2009 by noise

[Thakkar]

The Gujarati word of Nam Tan Preen is "gol'd" though pronounced nothing like the shiny metal.

I remember my mother making a quick 'n dirty snack for me using day-old chapati, shredded and hand-mixed with sticky gol'd shaped into little pingpong sized nuggets.

mmm.

Thanks for the memories, Orang.

[noise]

I note that my local Rimping (Nawarat) is not carrying the big packs of this palm sugar they used to carry from the Mittr Phool (spelling ?) company right now.

wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just buy it at the open markets all over town? I say that in that we never have a problem buying it at those but don't worry about brand name or fancy packaging. Never had any problem with quality/taste.

by the way, the Thai spelling is with a B bai mai (leaf) and what I hear when the word(s) is (are) spoken is Nam tan beep

ป

[orang37]

... snip ... wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just buy it at the open markets all over town? I say that in that we never have a problem buying it at those but don't worry about brand name or fancy packaging. Never had any problem with quality/taste.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Noise,

Thanks for your response !

I do buy it at the open markets in town (Wararot, Nong Hoi, San Pak Hoi), but I hypothesize, without any "scientific evidence," that most of what is sold is mixed with cane sugar and/or some other "extender" substance like maltodextrin, and often has been bleached (to get the very yellowish-gold color) with chemicals that are unknown (as yet) to me. But, yes, the taste is almost always great ! Furthermore, coconut palm sugar is often sold in the same packaging and has much the same look and color, and the same term is used to describe it in Thai !

With the locally sold palm sugar, I do always strain anything I've put it in (beverage) because the occasional insect or unknown-organic-material is embalmed therein

You can try to avoid buying the coconut version by asking : "anee mai ben maa prow, chai mai ?" but the vendor themself may not be really clear about what they have.

I'm fluent enough in Thai to ask if this "is only nam tan b/preep" but believe many vendors themselves are not aware of exactly what they are selling (they just get it from a distributor) and, while answering me honestly, they may not be answering accurately.

I've attempted to contact the Mitr Phool company regarding the exact contents of their large packages of this, but have been unsucessful (not exactly a high priority for me).

"by the way, the Thai spelling is with a B bai mai (leaf) and what I hear when the word(s) is (are) spoken is Nam tan beep

ป'

Thanks, I take your word for this, but I "swear" my ears hear this as more of a "p" sound than a "b" sound : it reminds me of a phoneme in Hindi-Urdu (which I once spoke at a very low level of fluency) where what to western ears "b" and "p" consonantal sounds are mixed.

I would also like to ask you : given the difference between the bulb or flower of the sugar palm and its leaves, if there's any possibility that the last term might have an alternate meaning.

best, ~o:37;

Edited July 24, 2009 by orang37

[orang37]

Thanks for that, Orang. I have a sweet tooth and know the variety of tastes that different sugars have. Fortunately, I haven't ruined my tastebuds by smoking or drinking to excess.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Ian,

Blessed are those that have not ruined their taste buds !

I say this with a slightly wistful feeling since mine are definitely ruined. But mine are ruined "thanks to" radiation; yes, I am one of the "lucky" five percent (some research suggests this number may be even smaller ... in any case it reflects a broad statistical average of thousands of cases with many cases, undoubtedly, as usual, on the fringe [technically : "outliers"], erroneously reported, etc.) or so of the population of those who get tongue cancers who have no history of smoking or drinking alcohol.

But, Praise be to Ur-Orang, my sweet receptors are still smoking ! And, mirabile dictu, my appreciation for the taste of what I can eat is wonderfully enhanced (small bone thrown by mercy to a soi dog ?).

I can honestly say that when I sit down in the morning, as I am doing right now, with a liter of fresh soy millk, sweetened with nam tan b/preep, made heartier with the addition of protein powder, topped off with stirring in two tablespoonfuls of organic sesame cream from Mae Hong Son (available Kasem stores) : my tongue has the lingual equivalent of multiple-orgasms : and, behold !, I have not paid many thousands of baht to some Swami or some Taoist wanna-be huckster in Doi Saket busy milking foreign suckers for all their cash

best, ~o:37;

Edited July 24, 2009 by orang37

[noise]

"by the way, the Thai spelling is with a B bai mai (leaf) and what I hear when the word(s) is (are) spoken is Nam tan beep

ป'

...... but I "swear" my ears hear this as more of a "p" sound than a "b" sound : it reminds me of a phoneme in Hindi-Urdu (which I once spoke at a very low level of fluency) where what to western ears "b" and "p" consonantal sounds are mixed.

I would also like to ask you : given the difference between the bulb or flower of the sugar palm and its leaves, if there's any possibility that the last term might have an alternate meaning.

My ears also quite frequently hear the bp mix. And if I am reading my dictionary correctly, the last word is spelled the same as the word "squeeze", which seems to make sense. Even thought it may be literally squeezed out by hand, it is squeezed out by the palm.

ปีป