Jaggery water (gur ka pani)

Jaggery water, gur ka pani or simply gur water, is jaggery dissolved in plain water with lemon, dry ginger and a pinch of salt. The how-to is short: two tablespoons of powder into two cups of water. Warm water melts the gur in seconds, and the rest is seasoning.

Gur water in morning is the usual habit, a warm glass before breakfast. It is best understood honestly: the Indian dietary guidelines count jaggery among added sugars, and the WHO suggests free sugars stay under ten per cent of a day's energy, so a glass of jaggery water sits inside that sugar allowance rather than outside it. It is a sweet drink, not a medicine.

The lemon version is the most common way to dress it up; skip the lemon and the ginger for plain sweet water. For the overnight method, stir the jaggery into all the water at room temperature and leave it covered overnight, then add the lemon, ginger and salt just before drinking. The drink keeps in the fridge for the day it is made.