Needa zero-prooftreat?Piloncillo,thepyramid-shapedMexicansugar,
givesanextraboostofflavortocoffeeandtea.ByKateKrader
PhotographbyNailaRuechelThe Cone of Sweetness
ELECTIONHANGOVERSPECIAL BloombergPursuits November 9, 2020Sugarisnot seasonal.Like flouror
cooking oil, it stands ready to be used
any time of year. One variety, however,
is especially well suited to cold weather:
piloncillo. Also known as panela, it’s
made from sugar cane syrup reduced
to create a sticky, molasses-rich
sweetener that’s darker and
has a funkier flavor than
American brown sugar.
“Piloncillo is rich,” says
Ivy Mix, co-owner of the
Latin American Leyenda
bar in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“Unlike the granulated
sugar people usually use,
it brings flavor with it.”
The ingredient hails
from Central and South
America, where it’s
available in light and
dark varieties. It’s usu-
ally sold in small cones,
though thenametech-
nically
translates as “little
loaf ”—a holdover
from the way it was
packaged in the late
1800s.
Among its other
attributes, pilon-
cillo played a role
in the Mexican
Revolution during
the early 1900s.
Soldiers religiously
drank the coun-
try’s spiced coffee,
café de olla, which
is brewed with cin-
namon and the
brown sugar, forextra energy.
Piloncillo is now being embraced in
the U.S. Chicago’s star chef Rick Bayless
incorporates it in his sea scallop ceviche
with garlic and pasilla chiles. At the
modern Mexican restaurant Claro
in Brooklyn, T.J. Steele enriches
moles with it. The San Antonio
hangout Liberty Bar serves
it with garlicky goat cheese
dip. And at his Italian-
styled restaurant, Le
Farfelle, in Charleston,
S.C., Michael Toscana
makes a chile agrodolce,
with piloncillo folded
in, as a sauce for grilled
meats like prime rib-
eye. “Boiling raw
sugar cane juice
down to a syrup,
you get complex
notes of bitterness
with the richness
of molasses. It’s
perfect for com-
bining with dried
chiles,” he says.
At Leyenda, Mix has gravi-
tatedtopiloncilloasa basefordrink
syrupsin coolermonths. Butshe’s
also started usingit inlow-alcohol
fermented beverages, such as her
housemade pineapple tepache,
because it lends an earthiness to the
brewing process.
As the cold weather hits, Mix is also
reaching for piloncillo to flavor hot
drinks such as her riff on the café de
olla. She adds dark rum to make it a
spiked coffee cocktail,butevenasa
nonalcoholic optionit canstillserveas
fuel for weary wintermornings. <BW>66
CAFÉ DE OLLA
In a small saucepan,
combine:- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp piloncillo sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 wholestaranise
- 2 cloves
- ¼ cup freshly ground
coffee (a not-too-
powdery,pour-over
grind) - 1.5 oz dark rum,
if desired
Bring to a simmer
over moderate heat.
Simmer, stirring,
2-4 minutes. Strain
into a mug and garnish
with the cinnamon
stick. �Adapted
from Ivy Mix, LeyendaINSIDER INGREDIENT