How Sweet It Is
Mar 25th, 2006 by Don Ray
Jackie Gleason probably wasn’t talking about panela, but he would have been better off if he had used it instead of refined sugar. Chef Melissa has an article related to panela and has a second article coming shortly.
On many street corners in David, you will see bars of panela being sold. To be honest I have not used a lot of it, but knowing a little more about it now, I will probably pick some up. I have stopped many times at the street venders in downtown David and bought a drink made from fresh crushed sugar cane. I like it with lemon squeezed in it. It is really refreshing on a hot day.
Chef Melissa also told me about two URLs that have more information on the attributes of panela. You can check them out here and here.
If you want to get better acquainted with Panamanian cooking then give Chef Melissa’s site a whirl. You will fine plenty of great recipes, interesting tidbits about Panama and the cutest Chef in Panama City.
