Welcome to Kolamba Diaries, a blog from Kolamba, your favourite Sri Lankan restaurant in London. We dive deep into the island’s generational culinary wisdom and traditions. 

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My earliest memory of kithul peni or kithul treacle is knitted to my mother serving me kiri peni, a dollop of creamy buffalo curd in a clay pot, dressed in a thick, amber brown, honey-like syrup. This sweet syrup, which we call kithul treacle, consists of a wonderful mix of earthy, smokey and floral notes. A natural sweetener, kithul treacle is integral to the island’s many cuisines, and pairs well with many sweet and savoury dishes served at Kolamba, our Sri Lankan restaurant in London. You can also order home a tightly sealed bottle of kithul treacle from our shop directly. 

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Kithul treacle comes from the sap collected from the flower of the kithul palm, or the fishtail palm tree (Caryota urens) that is native to Sri Lanka. The wild-grown palm is abundant in the wet, dense tropical jungles of the island, and takes over a decade to flower, and produce sap. To collect sap, a tapper would climb the towering kithul palm tree and make sharp cuts in the base of the inflorescence, a cluster of dangling flowers. Over the next few days, the sap trickles down and collects in a small sack or a collection pot tied to the base of the flowers. Although often undervalued, tapping is a highly-skilled, laborious process, usually passed down through generations from father to son. On many days, tappers spend long hours producing kithul syrup.

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Once collected, tappers boil this clear, unfermented white liquid over a woodfire for several long hours, until it thickens and turns into peni or treacle: brown, honey-like and gooey. Sometimes, farmers further boil down the treacle and let it set, to make hakuru or jaggery which are small blocks of palm sugar. 

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Instead of sugar, it’s common for Sri Lankans to have our cup of tea with a piece of jaggery, while the treacle sweetens many of our traditional desserts. During the local New Year that falls in April, Sri Lankan families use treacle to prepare sweetmeats like kevum, a deep-fried snack made of rice flour. And if you ask me what it’s commonly used for, treacle always finds a place alongside a pot of buffalo milk yoghurt or curd, served right after a hearty feast of Sri Lankan rice & curry. But, this beautifully dark-golden syrup is highly versatile and pairs perfectly as a topping for many sweet and sugary dishes, as well as for cocktails and mocktails. 

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At its purest form, unadulterated kithul syrup contains no sugar, water or preservatives. Vegan, wild-grown, organic and low GI, kithul treacle — like maple syrup — also makes for the perfect sugar substitute. Every morning, I drizzle my oat bowl with a spoonful of kithul treacle, which adds a delicate, feel-good sweetness. It also pairs well with toast and banana for evening teatime. 

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Island’s beloved sweetener also finds a place at Kolamba, a Sri Lankan restaurant in London. If you are in London and looking for brunch in Soho, Kolamba’s weekend menu includes thick-cut bacon slices coated in this smoky-sweet natural kithul syrup, sourced from small-scale farmers in Sri Lanka, and plated with Sri Lankan brunch mains like plain hoppers and egg hoppers, which are bowl-shaped snacks made with fermented rice flour batter. The earthy, smokiness of the syrup gives a wonderful umami punch to many savoury dishes like the bacon. 

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Those with a sweet tooth can look for milk hoppers topped with kithul treacle, enjoy pancakes with a generous drizzle of the syrup or dress your yoghurt-granola bowl with a spoonful of the syrup. Frankly, you can replace sugar with kithul treacle for almost any dish. Think of nutty brownies or an innovative, Instagrammable french toast with caramelized bananas. The wonderful smoky-sweet flavour of the syrup adds depth to many dishes.

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At Kolamba, our Sri Lankan restaurant in London, we also use kithul syrup to recreate classic Sri Lankan cocktails like arrack sour, a timeless Ceylon Arrack cocktail paired with lime. You can also grab a pure kithul syrup bottle from our Lankan Larder, where we stock island ingredients and kitchen staples like roasted curry powder and seeni sambol (caramelized onion) so you can try them at home.

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Kitchen uses aside, according to the island’s traditional healing systems and oral chronicles, kithul also packs medicinal traits. It contains antioxidant qualities, and applying a bit of syrup can heal burns. 

Next time when you want to try a natural, vegan and low GI substitute for sugar, think of kithul treacle, the golden-brown palm syrup that sweetens many of Sri Lanka’s beloved dishes. You can grab a bottle from our Lankan Larder. Better yet, try it out at our Sri Lankan restaurant in London. Our weekend brunch in Soho is an ideal way to get a taste of the umami kick of this sweet, earthy syrup we all dearly love.