The market

Date palm jaggery

Gur: unrefined sugar from boiled cane juice or palm sap, set into blocks — caramel and earthy.

Kinds

Cane gur
Golden to brown; the Punjabi kind.
Palm jaggery
Darker, smokier; closer to palm sugar.

If you can't find it

Indian grocers, as gur.

  1. 1Palm sugar
    The same weight
    You lose little.
  2. 2Dark brown sugar
    The same weight
    You lose the earthy, mineral depth.

Knowing it

Where to buy
South Asian grocers. Dark muscovado is the nearest swap.
Worth knowing
Grate or shave it off the block; it dissolves quickly in warm liquid.