Gula apong or attap palm sugar, the finishing touch to cendol in Kuching, Sarawak. It is not cendol, if there is no palm sugar, and in Sarawak, it is best with attap palm sugar or gula apong (in Malay).
Gula apong is used in many different dishes such as, as a sauce (in a blend with fermented prawn paste) in this cuttlefish kang kong salad 鱿鱼翁菜.
Gula apong sweetness is the dominant flavour overlaying the umami savouriness of hae ko or fermented prawn paste.
The same gula apong and hae ko sauce blend is used in dressing rojak, a raw vegetable salad.
Sarawak's signature three colour / layer milk tea has gula apong at its base, followed by evaporated milk and black tea on top.
Yellow noodles stir-fried with soy sauce and gula apong is a popular savoury sweet comfort dish in Kuching.
Gula apong ice cream has been available for some 30 years in Kuching.
Ever since my first taste of gula apong, I am curious and hoped for a chance to learn at first hand how this amazing palm sugar is produced. (Another familiar palm sugar is gula Melaka / Jawa made from coconut palm.)
I was so excited by the chance to visit a gula apong producer in Kampung Pinggan Jaya, Samarahan, near Kuching, Sarawak.
We arrived here at the crack of dawn on a drizzly morning as Pak Mahli and his family crew start his daily routine.
This is not a plantation but a swathe of natural wild nipah or attap palm forest along the swampy banks of Sarawak River, near Kuching city.
The water level can rise to knee high depending on the tide, and would be muddy all the time.
Pak Mahli's daily routine tasks include many nuggets of ancient wisdom passed down through generations.
One is to massage the stem of the nipah fruit pod. This would stimulate greater sap production in the palm's stem.
The nipah palm seed also known as attap seed can be eaten - it is crunchy, juicy, deliciously sweet.
Its flowers boiled in gula apong syrup are considered a delicacy. Nipah palm leaves are dried and used as traditional roofing, the green leaves used as wraps for otak otak (spiced fish custard) and the leaf midrib is traditionally used to skewer satay. No part of this amazing plant is wasted.
The fruit pod harvested, the stem is cut to allow the sap to flow out. Every day, a new shaving is made to maintain the flow of sap. About a litre of sap is produced every four hours. A stem is productive for up to 5 months, until it is shaved till it is near to its base.
Traditionally, the nipah palm stem sap is made to flow into a bamboo stem. The sap is harvested when the stem is full, usually the next morning.
Nowadays, plastic bottles are often used in place of traditional bamboo stems.
The stone stove is prepared with fire wood known as kayu buta-buta or literally "blinding wood". Kayu buta-buta produces slow, long burning fire, and blinding smoke. Its sap also causes blindness on contact with eyes, hence its quaint name.
A big wok is laid on the stove once the fire is ready.
Traditionally, gula apong producers use cast iron woks but these last only around 6 months before they are worn out (i.e. punctured). Nowadays, producers use aluminium woks which can last at least 5 years.
A simple sieve is put over the wok to strain out insects that may get caught in the nipah palm sap.
Pak Mahli with part of his day's collection of nipah palm sap.
This raw nipah palm sap known as air sadap or air nira is drinkable.
Empties the sap into the wok till it is full.
A large collar is put into the wok to prevent spills from boiling sap.
More sap is added as a significant amount of sap is lost to extract the nipah palm sap's sweet essence. Ten litres of nipah palm sap is required to produce 1 kg of gula apong.
It takes about 4 - 5 hours to boil down the sap to caramelised sugar. Pak Mahli watches the wok of sap like a hawk and adjusts the fire as required. Proper temperature control is crucial as it is easy to burn the sap and ruin the entire day's collection.
Pak Mahli watches the hot churning sap and once the bubbles start to reduce, it is time to remove the wok from the heat.
A moment's delay and the day's work goes to waste.
A critical moment, moving the hot wok of molten sap sugar from the stove to rest on a used tire.
The sap continues to roil and churn in the hot wok's residual heat.
Excess air bubbles are folded into the molten sap.
First taste of today's production.
Still tongue scathing hot. It tastes savoury of the sea followed by a floral sweetness (after all, the sap is actually nectar). The savouriness and taste of the sea came from the brackish water which the nipah palm forest is standing in.
At this stage when the cooked nipah sap has not thicken into a paste or harden, it is known as air geylang.
Next step to roll the bubbles into the caramelised sap i.e. palm sugar.
The gula apong taking form and colour. I tried my hand at it and can attest that it takes years of experience to do this at Pak Mahli's level.
The gula apong is transferred to tubs for sale to clients.
Ten litres of nipah palm sap yields 1 kg of gula apong.
How does freshly made pure gula apong tastes?
First sensation, the savoury sea salt taste is quite intense in a pleasant way. Its grainy "salt" melts quickly in the mouth into a floral sweet taste over the savouriness. It's quite addictive and I feel the urge for another spoonful.
Which really isn't too much of a problem as the Glycemic Index of gula apong is relatively low at 40 and doesn't cause the same sugar spike like white cane sugar which has a GI of 65.
Gula apong production is a fine example of a sustainable eco-friendly industry. The nipah palms are naturally occurring (wild) and abundant along the coastline and river banks of Sarawak.
Harvesting the nipah palm sap does not harm the plant as it is self-renewing. The product gula apong is healthful due to low GI and is organic. No artificial flavours, synthetic fertilisers nor pesticides are used in its production.
The producers can sell their gula apong and also host educational visits for sustainable eco-tourism. Gula apong production supports the economy and livelihood of the surrounding villages.
It also promotes and preserves a cultural heritage which has been part of Sarawak tradition for at least a thousand years (worthy of UNESCO world intangible cultural heritage status in my humble opinion).
Gula apong is deeply embedded in the social fabric of today's Sarawak. Every community has gula apong in their cuisine either as an ingredient, seasoning or condiment. The sticky sweet sugar is like a social glue that helps keep the community bonds strong through food. It is also a sweet reminder of the cultural and material wealth, the land of Sarawak so abundantly provides.
Written by Tony Boey on 23 Mar 2025
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