Sarkara

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of sugar derived from palm sap, often used in traditional Indian sweets and cooking
2. A natural sweetener obtained from the process of concentrating sap from certain palm trees
3. A product made by crystallizing the syrup from palm trees, commonly utilized in various culinary dishes

Etymology: Sarkara is Sanskrit for "sugar" or "gravel," and the connection between those two senses is the surprising part. Sugar reached Europe through the Arabic "sukkar," which came from Persian and ultimately from this Sanskrit root. The original Indian sense reflected how the crystals looked and felt, like grit, and early sugar was indeed granular, which is why the same stem could mean both pebble and sweetener. The word is a Sanskrit term, probably related to the same root that gave "sakkhara" in Pali, and it spread westward along trade routes as sugar itself did. Sugar cane was cultivated in India long before it reached the Mediterranean, and the Sanskrit name traveled with the product. Note that the meaning given in your entry, a product made from crystallized palm sap, is a narrower sense than the historical word. In Sanskrit and its descendants, sarkara generally refers to sugar or granules in general rather than specifically palm sugar, so the palm-based definition reflects a modern regional usage.

Synonyms: sugar, jaggery