As a substitute for white sugar, date palm jaggery, has a few things going for it. It is made out of concentrated juice (sap) acquired from the date palm tree. A 2026 review of palmyra, date and coconut palm jaggery describes it as “traditionally prepared by concentrating palm sap” and reports measurable zinc, iron and potassium in palm jaggery in general (Agritha et al., 2026).
It is still a sugar, though, and it is not always pure. The same review discusses “the prevalence of adulteration with sugarcane derivatives” in palm jaggery. Below is what the sources actually say about it, and why winter is the season people talk about it.
Why winter is the season for date palm jaggery
The review notes that palm sap “can be harvested year-round or seasonally”. Where date palm sap is a traditional delicacy, as in Bangladesh, it is collected overnight during the cold season. A survey of 1,777 adults in Rajbari and Kushtia districts, interviewed in November and December 2012, found that half (50%) had drunk raw sap during the previous sap collection season (Nahar et al., 2015). A national survey of 10,002 households found date palm sap was mostly consumed during winter, with higher frequencies in January (16%) and February (12%) than in other months (Shanta et al., 2023). In those regions, winter is when the sap that jaggery is made from is fresh.
One safety point belongs here. The World Health Organization says Nipah virus can reach people who consume fruit products “such as raw date palm juice, contaminated by infected fruit bats”, and advises that “freshly collected date palm juice should be boiled” (WHO, Nipah virus fact sheet).
What is in its sugars
Palm jaggery is used as a sweetener, and its sugars can be measured directly. A 2025 study at CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysuru used NMR to quantify glucose, fructose and sucrose in honey, jaggery, coconut sugar and date syrup (Biswas et al., 2025). For comparison, USDA FoodData Central lists granulated white sugar at 387 kcal and 99.8 g sucrose per 100 g (FDC 169655). Treat a piece of jaggery in your tea the way you would treat a spoon of sugar.
Weight: it still counts as sugar
Swapping white sugar for palm jaggery does not take sugar out of your diet. WHO defines free sugars as sugars “added to foods and beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumer”, plus the sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices. Jaggery stirred into a drink or a pudding is sugar added by the cook. WHO advises keeping free sugars below 10% of total daily energy intake, which it puts at 50 g (about 12 level teaspoons) for a person of healthy body weight eating about 2,000 calories a day, and says cutting to 5% or less may give additional health benefits (WHO, Healthy diet fact sheet).
Add nutrition to food
This is where palm jaggery really differs from white sugar. The 2026 review notes that over 90% of jaggery made in India comes from sugarcane, and reports that jaggery from palm saps has a better nutritional profile, with higher levels of minerals such as iron (up to 11.4 mg per 100 g), zinc (up to 2.5 mg per 100 g) and potassium (up to 1,050 mg per 100 g). Granulated white sugar has almost none: USDA FDC lists 0.05 mg iron, 0.01 mg zinc and 2 mg potassium per 100 g.
Two caveats. Those are “up to” figures across palmyra, date and coconut palm jaggery, not a value for every block you buy. And the figures are per 100 g. WHO’s own figures put 50 g of sugar at about 12 level teaspoons, so a teaspoon is roughly 4 g, which at the top of the review’s range would carry under 0.5 mg of iron. If you like its flavour, use it as you would any sugar, in small amounts.
See our full shop or the dates fruit range for more options. This is general nutrition information, not medical advice.
References
- Agritha C, Chandrakar S, Venkatachalapathy N, Mahendran R. Traditional production, grading, nutritional value, packaging and value addition of palmyra, date, and coconut palm jaggery. J Food Sci Technol. 2026;63(2):214-223. PubMed 41737701
- Nahar N, et al. Raw sap consumption habits and its association with knowledge of Nipah virus in two endemic districts in Bangladesh. PLoS One. 2015;10(11):e0142292. PubMed 26551202
- Shanta IS, et al. Human exposure to bats, rodents and monkeys in Bangladesh. Ecohealth. 2023;20(1):53-64. PubMed 37099204
- Biswas A, Borse BB, Chaudhari SR. Quantitative NMR analysis of sugars in natural sweeteners: profiling in honey, jaggery, date syrup, and coconut sugar. Food Res Int. 2025;199:115358. PubMed 39658160
- World Health Organization. Nipah virus fact sheet. who.int
- World Health Organization. Healthy diet fact sheet. who.int
- USDA FoodData Central. Sugars, granulated (SR Legacy, FDC 169655). fdc.nal.usda.gov