Idea 135 of 500. Cluster 6: Food and drink as export, not just hospitality
Kithul treacle and jaggery as a named origin sweetener, the way maple syrup is Canadian, with a range of recipes and ready products that use it in place of white sugar, each tested for its glycaemic index so the label can say what it does
The mechanism, from the book
Dilmah says it earns over 3 times the national average price for tea, because it does its own blending, branding and packing. The proof has been sitting inside the industry all along.
Every idea in cluster 6 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Start from the research: a study in the Ceylon Medical Journal in 2022 measured the glycaemic index of kithul treacle as low, which means it raises blood sugar more slowly than table sugar, though it is still sugar. Buy treacle from 2 tappers whose purity you can check, develop 3 products with it, a granola, a sauce and a dessert, and have one tested for its glycaemic index by a university food laboratory. Take the result and the samples to 3 health-food buyers.
- Who pays first
- A health-food shop or café abroad whose customers want a natural sweetener with a measured, lower effect on blood sugar.
- What leaves today
- Kithul is sold as a cheap syrup with no name, while maple syrup and agave carry the premium for the same idea of a natural sweetener.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
What a brand and an owned variety are worth, from the kiwifruit growers - Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
The island's spices: pepper, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg
More from cluster 6
Idea 135 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.