Piloncillo or Panela (Brown unrefined sugar loaf)

Piloncillo:  The sugar cane planted by the Spanish in the New World gave rise to several distinctive foods found in Mexico.  One of these is our more flavorful equivalent of American brown sugar — the hard cones of unrefined sugar sold as piloncillo.  You can sometimes find these in Latin American markets, in large or small cones.  To use, you can grate the hard sugar on the fine side of the grater, pulverize it in a food processor,or soften a small amount in water.

in Oaxaca and Veracruz, the most popular sweetening used in cooking is another form of unrefined loaf sugar locally called panela.  It is an intensely flavored brown sugar formed into a rounded platter weighing about 10 – 12 ounces and measuring about 4 – 5 inches across and 1 inch high.  U.S. shoppers can usually find panela in Latin American markets.  It is very much a tradition of southern Mexico and the Central American nations.  If no panela is in sight, ask whether the store has piloncillo, a similar type of brown loaf sugar that is common in the north of Mexico.  Piloncillo is made in the shape of truncated cones large or small.  Piloncillo is somewhat milder and less molasses-y than panela, but it is the closest thing you will find.  Dark brown sugar is a blander but acceptable substitute.

At the ranch we made the Sonoran specialty,  coyotas, flaky, layered flour tortilla-like pastry stuffed with grated piloncillo that melts deliciously but easily burns if you don’t watch it carefully.  My mother sweetened her  cafe de olla (pot-cooked sweet coffee) and, in Veracruz, I learned to add a small piece to add a sweet touch to wonderfully smoky pickled chipotle chiles.