From the producer:
When Just Panela’s founder first moved to Colombia in 2010, he encountered a unique unrefined form of cane sugar, otherwise known as “panela.” Usually sold in blocks that must one must break down with a knife or cheese grater, panela is consumed daily in the morning with hot water (“agua panela”) and at lunchtime with cold water and lime juice (“guarapo”).
Our founder recognized that Panela could provide an organic alternative to artificial sweeteners and highly processed modern sugars available to American consumers. With the help of a co-founder, the two subsequently started Just Panela in 2013 in an effort to bring Panela, preferable in both taste and texture, to the American market. The company objective is to replace brown, white, and turbinado sugar in all areas of specialty coffee and tea, food and beverage products, baking, food service, natural, gourmet, and grocery.
Just Panela asks; why was sugar refined in the first place? The answer is that industrial sugar has no choice but to be refined due to the industrial collection process used by big sugar. It’s a dirty process that requires cleaning and filtering, involving multiples of chemicals as well as cow bone char! Just Panela, on the other hand is machete cut by hand, and kettle cooked by hand to allow sugar cane to retain its natural mineral content and teroir.
