Muscovado
Muscovado is the go-to tea snack in any ordinary household. Sanpin cha (Jasmine tea) and muscovado; a typical Okinawan tea time kit. Eating a piece of white sugar is absurd, but muscovado made from Okinawa sugar canes can be eaten just as it is. It has an ingenuous sweetness and a homely taste, inviting us to munch one after another.
Its nutritional value is excellent. In fact, we can say that Okinawa has the world’s best longevity1 thanks to muscovado.
Compared to white sugar, muscovado has 240 times more calcium, 47 times more iron, and as much as 1,100 times more potassium. In other words, if white rice is compared to refined sugar, then muscovado is closer to brown rice.
Many older people remember as a child, when there weren’t any confectionaries, the truly delicious muscovado was the only candy. As a matter of course, they love it to this day, not to mention that they are extremely energetic.
Editor’s Note:
- According to the national census in 2000, the average lifespan of men in Okinawa has dropped from 1st place to 26th. Subsequently, the average lifespan for women has not marked the top since 2010.
