Kithul Treacle is often used as a sweetener in traditional desserts, The Treacle is also used as a sweetener in Sinhalese and Tamil New Year sweetmeats such as kavum, and aluwa.
The Kithul farmer makes sharp incisions at the base of a cluster of flowers that droop down from a branch like a bunch of grapes. He then ties a jute sack to the base of the cluster to collect droplets of sap trickling down. The Sap is collected over several days and boiled down over an open wood fire, until it reduces to a sticky and intensely sweet syrup the colour and thickness of honey
