Watch: The making of ‘atchu vellam’, an ingredient in sweet Pongal

Veeramangudi, in Papanasam taluk of Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, is known for its production of the soft and crumbly atchu vellam (jaggery set into cubical wooden moulds). Factories in and around the village produce approximately 245 tonnes of jaggery (7,000 bags of 35 kg each) annually. Of late though, these factories have started closing down due to an attack of yellow leaf disease in the sugarcane crop.