SRI LANKA'S PALM-SAP TAPPERS RIDE UNESCO BOOST

When Sri Lankan mechanic Sarath Ananda left his job in Kuwait to make traditional palm sweets, he never imagined the career switch would bring global acclaim.

- BY AMAL JAYASINGHE

Ananda returned home in 2008 and embraced his family's traditional vocation -- tapping sap from the kithul palm, becoming a fifth-generation practitioner of a craft now recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The honour has cast a global spotlight on a fragile cottage industry battling labour shortages, rampant adulteration and dwindling sap supplies.

At dawn and sunset, Ananda, 63, climbs towering Caryota urens trees to collect the sweet, milky sap that is boiled into treacle -- a caramel-coloured syrup with a pleasant aroma that enhances the flavour of desserts.

When boiled longer, it reduces into jaggery, a mineral-rich palm sugar with a lower glycaemic index than the commonly available white cane sugar.

But the yield from his five trees -- about 200 litres (50 gallons) a day -- falls far short of demand for his homemade brand.