Taal-michri

I almost heard Clemenza insist – ‘Leave the Cannoli, take the Michri’.

Palm-candy, or Taal-Michri, makes a lifelong thief out of just about anyone. As a lad of eight or nine I’d routinely pull a stool near the rack to reach the bottle of Michri for a passing taste of heaven, having always found asking for it more circuitous than stealing. That practice continued unabated, expanded and turned increasingly discreet along my growth from a wary robber to an unworried rebel.

Michri, a spinoff of unrefined Palm-sugar, is produced round the year by reducing to crystals the boiled sap of Toddy Palm trees of Bengal. Considered both healthful and popular [how absurd!], it is used extensively in native desserts as a modest and 'caramelic' sweetener. Interestingly, the English word Candy owes its origin to Michri’s ancient name ‘Khondo’.

And, I still steal it!