Iberia Panela Fraccionada, 32 Ounce

Really good flavor

Nice sugar, with warm slightly spicy taste, great for coffee or tea. Changes flavor of sugar cookies. I like to always have some at hand.

Back in Dec 2024, I started using powdered panela and fell in love with it & almost completely replaced my other sugars (raw, brown, and white) with it. I wanted to try the blocks of panela for the same way I prefer to use whole nutmeg or vanilla beans - just because it always seems to have a richer & better taste. And this sure does! PRO: + I much prefer panela to any other sugar for my coffee and tea. (I especially prefer the block kind.) + I can grate this to incorporate it into some things or, as I do with homemade creamer, chop it roughly to dissolve it in milk. I can also dissolve some in water to make it easier to pour into cereal or beverages. + This is easy to vac-seal for protection. + It smells divine - more "brown" and caramelic while the powdered version is not nice really nice-smelling, IMO. + This seems to melt better in my drinks - cold and warm-to-hot. The powdered version took some stirring & tended to settle on the bottom of cups. + The powdered version is almost too dry, if that makes sense. The grated part of the block stays a bit moist. I think that it why it works better in drinks. This also helps it to melt into cereals (I put some on oatmeal.) + Not sure if this will change a lot, but the price is affordable for the person on a tight budget - ME! No negatives but things to be aware of: -- Grating this takes a little bit of work. I used a cheese grater and it didn't take too long to do a single block. After the fact, I am realizing that I made that job harder than needed. The panela was softening in the warm of my hands. I am sure that I can warm it and use a mortar-type of action to grind it down. I do know that when it gets warm, I was able to slice it with a knife. -- It gets very sticky from any kind of warmth - even your hands. (I like that part, but just be aware). -- Find a way to store the ground up part. I keep a small bit ground up (for daily use) in little airtight jars and some in a larger mostly airtight container. I keep the unused/unground parts vac-sealed and in the pantry. I just want to keep air and as much light as possible away. I will probably transfer the sealed ones to the fridge or freezer when the weather gets warm. I much prefer this to the powdered one & will get it from now on. I plan to try some things to incorporate this more in my daily use. Since I am using this in my coffee and tea along with a little evaporated milk, I will experiment with just melting a little of the panela in the jar of milk. I am definitely going to play around with using this in my baking in the place of sugar and honey. NOTE: Since I have CKD (stage 3b), I have to watch potassium levels. This is high in potassium so... I just have to use in moderation.

I use this to make my batch of Tapache each week. Love this stuff and this sugar is perfect for the fermentation process

swseetness

Worked for the Mexican hot chocolate but it was hard as a rock and so hard to cut down. Ended up using only what I needed and threw the rest away because of how hard it was.

This make a good drink, drop two disc into a full pitcher of water, let it dissolve, get a cup with ice, squeeze a lime into the glass and pour the Panela drink and enjoy...

Now that my local grocery stores have all ceased carrying very much in the way of Mexican foods & spices, I've had to go online - I use panel (also called piloncillo) on a regular basis - panela can be grated on a box grater, much easier than trying to break it up into useable pieces This was a good price for how much I got - there is no substitute for this type of sugar when making Mexican or Caribbean dishes, and light brown & dark brown American sugars have deteriorated in quality to the point where I no longer buy them at all, I buy panels, jaggery, & Chinese yellow rock sugar for my various ethnic dishes