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Some of our customer feedback indicates they were puzzled why all Traditional sweets look pretty dark in colour and that it does not look attractive.

That takes us to a Sweet Story..

A story of Sugar:

The attractive white colour Sugar is only about 4 centuries old, thanks to the Indians who invented the crystallization process back in third century. When Britain faced heavy shortage of sugar and its sky rocketing prices in 18 Century, British led India was asked to produce a refined sugar in bulk quantities and cheaper than rest of the world.

Hence there was lots of advancement in cane cultivation, juice extraction process and molasses separation resulting in more clear white coloured, cheapest form of sweeteners. It would then eventually found its way in many products like Jams, Bread, Candy, Beverages and Processed Food.

Although the use of our Ancient Sweeteners like Palm & Coconut Sugar lost its race with White cane Sugar because of its cost and abundant supply, Ayurveda used these Traditional sweets not just for Taste, But as a medicine to cure diseases.

Though Palm / Coconut jaggery does not look as attractive as cane sugar, it has many health benefits. Unlike white sugar, jaggery has rich iron content in it and thus is beneficial for anemic people. Jaggery also acts as a cleansing agent of the respiratory tract and the digestive tract due to which it is good for people having asthma, acidity, cold, cough and chest congestion. Drinking Jaggery based beverages helps in blood purification, healthy hair, improves digestion, reduces joint pain and, makes skin smooth and healthy. It is used for curing dry cough and cold.

Why do we prefer the Rice to be Aged / Old?

The new rice grains are sticky. They aren't fully dried yet compared to old rice. So they absorb less water while cooking. Old rice grains cook out beautifully where each grain is non-sticky and separate. This gives good bite while eating and also dish looks better.
Also as they can absorb more water, they get longer / more volume.
Indians generally prefer their rice non-sticky. While Chinese prefer sticky rice due to their chopsticks culture. And why is your Aged Rice bit more expensive? Because it has to preserved and maintained bug free till it gets old. Farmer has to wait for few years on return for harvest.
Different aged rice is used for different dishes. All new harvest dishes (pongal in India etc) require the rice to be soft and together (sticky), and dishes which require clean separate grains can be done with older rice. Basmati is one of the Aged rice variety.