This article is part of our feature to celebrate Pan Dulce. Find all things pan dulce here.
Piloncillo (as it is commonly called in Mexico) or panela, rapadura and chanaca in greater Latin America, is a cone-shaped sugar “cube” beloved for its smoky, caramel and deep dark flavor. It is culturally significant and an essential ingredient in traditional recipes such as capirotada (a type of bread pudding) and coyotes (empanada-like cookies).
Categorically, piloncillo is a “non-centrifugal” cane sugar, which means it is an unrefined sugar product and a true natural brown sugar. It is mainly consumed in Mexico and Latin America, but a similar product can be found in Asia, known as jaggery in India. Although often lumped together, these unrefined dark sugars are very different from the brown sugars on the market today, which are heavily refined—in some cases, they're really just white sugar with coloring or molasses added.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Making piloncillo, on the other hand, involves a craft process that is hundreds of years old. To make it, pressed cane juice is boiled to evaporate the water and deeply caramelize the sugar. The cooked cane is then cast into molds (often wooden) and left to dry and harden. The traditional piloncillo is conical in shape and can vary in size from small to large cones, but is most commonly found in a medium size that weighs around 200 grams. In Guatemala and Colombia, it is called panela, where it is cooked to a lighter degree and usually formed into a brick shape rather than a cone shape. Other forms of piloncillo can be granular or liquid (which is rarer).
Minimally processed and boldly flavored, piloncillo was historically a prized and respected food. As an unrefined cane sugar, piloncillo offers more complex vitamins and minerals than refined sugars, which undergo processing and bleaching methods that also strip nutrients from the whole food. And piloncillo is also great for roasting, providing burnt caramel notes and hints of smoke. Plus, its rich molasses qualities keep baked goods moist and fresh for longer.
However: buyer beware! Always look at the ingredients label when buying piloncillo and make sure it says 100% pure cane juice or cane sugar. It is becoming increasingly common to find imitation products marketed as jaggery or piloncillo that contain coloring and corn syrup. You can find good piloncillo at specialty grocery stores or online at retailers.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
How to bake with piloncillo
In Mexico and throughout Latin America, piloncillo is an important ingredient in many traditional dishes. (Some will even say it's not the “real dish” if you substitute sugar in these recipes because of the deep flavors and richness that only piloncillo can provide.) This deep, dark unrefined sugar gives it the flavor and texture. its characteristic of popular foods and drinks. such as capirotada, tepache, coyotas, atole, café de olla, calabaza al horno, choirsAND leaf litterto name a few!
One recipe in which it excels is small children, also known as maranitos, soft gingerbread cookies in the shape of a pig that are usually eaten with cafe de olla and go well with black tea. Cookie dough involves making a syrup of piloncillo, spices and water, which is then added to the dry ingredients to create a rich, dark and moist cookie. Piloncillo gives puerquitos their soft chew and a deep caramelized flavor.
I like to add piloncillo when I'm making champurrado. In this warm, thick chocolate drink, piloncillo is chopped or chopped and dissolved in a pot of water or milk before the chocolate and masa are added. In this recipe, the intense sweet and smoky flavors of piloncillo combine well with the chocolate and corn mixture.
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
Adding piloncillo to your recipes
While there are many dishes and uses for piloncillo, it is not a simple substitute for granulated white sugar in recipes, but you can use it just like brown sugar with a 1:1 weight substitution. Depending on how hard the cone is, it can be broken or ground for easier measurement. If it's too hard, try cutting it in half with a sharp knife and then place it between parchment paper or a tea towel and beat it with a rolling pin.
A general rule for baking: Darker colored products will benefit from the use of piloncillo as a natural sweetener; try substituting the brown sugar called for in a recipe for piloncillo or substituting 10% of the white sugar for piloncillo by weight. Use it in gingerbread, brownies, dark chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, rye bread, etc. Crumble it into pies or use it to sweeten your coffee.
Incorporating piloncillo into your baking can be a delicious baking trick to add more flavor, nutrition and maintain the quality of your baked goods. After all, who doesn't love a cookie that's moist, delicious, keeps longer, and can support traditional manufacturing methods and artisan sugar makers at the same time?
Find puerquito and many other Mexican desserts at our pan dulce celebration feature.
Cover photo by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
