Before refined white sugar arrived, this is what India sweetened with. Jaggery is cane juice boiled down and set, keeping the molasses that refining strips out, which is why it tastes of caramel and smoke rather than plain sweetness.

Indya Jaggery Balls are that sugar in its most practical form, pressed into rounds you can break up or drop straight into a pan.

Use them wherever you would use sugar and want more flavour. In chai, in halwa and festival sweets, melted down into a syrup, or stirred through warm milk. Plenty of households simply keep a bowl on the table and finish a heavy meal with a small piece.

Find them in the pantry aisle at Curry Corner, North Melbourne.