Hill-Country Sweetener · Palm Syrup
Kithul Peni (Treacle) Hoppers
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Ji-Elle / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Tappers coax the sap out by climbing into the kithul palm's crown and beating and bending the flower cluster for days before the first drop ever flows.
Sap tapped from kithul (fishtail) palms in the hills around Kandy and Kotmale is boiled down into a dark, date-like syrup, drizzled hot over hoppers, string hoppers or curd at market stalls and tea shops across the hill country.
Why it's made this way: Kandy's cool, forested hills remain one of the island's last strongholds of kithul tapping, a skill that predates refined sugar in Sri Lanka and still shapes how the hill country sweetens its food.
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