Pancharmirtham or Panchamrutham is a dessert offering made with five sweet food ingredients. This is made as a prasadam ( naivedyam) and offered to the deity during Indian festivals, especially Karthigai deepam, Navarathri, Thai poosam, Ganesha Chaturthi etc.
Panchamrutham from Palani
Palani the temple abode and one of the six famous among the ones for Lord Muruga, in India. One of the most famous offerings at this temple is the Panchamritham which is used for Abhishekam ( ritual bathing of the idol). During my childhood, it used to come in small canned tins. In the corner of my maternal grandfather’s pooja room, there was always a secret stash of a few cans of this. One of which he will previously open special days for abishekam for his tiny Muruga idol. My grandfather only got this when someone came after the pilgrimage to Palani. So this was very precious. If we are extra nice that abhisekam day, we get more than a spoonful. This was my childhood association with the panchamrutham.
What is Panchamritham?
When it comes to South Indian prasadam, panchamrutham and trimadhuram are considered Nectar of the gods. The panchamritham consists of 5 sweet elements that are offered together. The banana, dates, jaggery (natural cane sugar), honey, rock candy together forms a delicious dessert. This is slightly different from the dairy-filled panchamrit. This is the main offering at the muruagan temple at Palani as well.
Ingredients for the panchamrutham
Once we move to Penang the Thai Poosam atop the Penang Murugan temple was the most revered festival. The whole island gets ready and people irrespective of their origin join to make it a memorable event. During this time people also carry a potful of panchamritham to contribute to the abishekam. This was what set me to work on this, no-cook, gluten-free panchamrutham recipe.
Bananas– the Palani prasadam uses the Virupachi hill bananas. These are sweet small sized bananas. Since we don’t get them, I have used the regular yellow variety of bananas. The kind that mashes easily.
Jaggery– Natural sugar, unpurified made by evaporating sugarcane juice is jaggery. Choose the lighter or the darker colour based on the availability. I have used the powdered darker one.
Dates – Among the sweet dry fruits, the most popular among the south Indian is dates. Hence it makes its way to this recipe too.
Rock sugar – Rocksugar stays crystalized for a little while longer and this gives a bite to the re dessert. If you are keeping the panchamrutham for long the rock sugar will melt in.
Honey – The honey gives a unique taste to the temple prasadams. Dont skip the honey when you make this.
These are the key ingredients of the panchamritham . Since it is a fresh preparation and will get discoloured a small quantity of ghee is added to prevent quick oxidation. Adding rose water, cardamom etc are flavourants That you can change as per what you have.
Fruit variations – For the home-style Panchamritham, you can use apples, grapes, chikoo, jackfruit etc along with the banana. The taste and flavour of each are unique.
Check the recipe card below for the quantities of the ingredients.
How to make panchamrutham.
Ingredients
- 12 medium Banana yellow long variety
- 5-7 nos Dates Mejool
- 2 tablespoon raisins
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon jaggery grated or powdered
- 1 tablespoon rock candy squares
- 1/4 teaspoon green cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp rosewater sprinkling, optional
- 1 tsp ghee / clarified butter
Instructions
- Peel the banana and slice them. Add this to the mixing bowl.
- Pit and chop the dates and add this too to the mixing bowl.
- Add the honey, crushed jaggery, cardamom powder, rosewater and raisins to the mixing bowl.
- Mix the ingredients well.
- Remove to a serving dish and brush the ghee on top.
Collection of South Indian prasadam.
There are very unique temple style prasadams that you see made in South India. Living far away from these temples, make me miss them at times. So I try to recreate them at home. Here are some of those south Indian prasadam recipe links.
Pillayarpatti Mothagam – a unique mothagam recipe made in the pillayarpatti temple.
Aval nanachathu– a quick offering you often see on the banana leaf that you receive from Kerala temples.
Kovil Pongal – Tiruvananthapuram style kovil pongal.
Kerala paal payasam – a quicker version of the Ambhalapuzha payasam.
Paanakam- a general drink offering made in the temples
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The original post was all about my relationship with my grandfather. Though this recipe always will be so, it was rightfully pointed out by a reader that it does not provide information. So, the content and photographs have been updated to accommodate this feedback. I am also adding this to the foodies redo old posts as they are a constant inspiration to get posts to reader alignment. Do share your feedback on our posts as it will be important to us to see what you like and think of these posts.
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Heavenly divine taste Seema. Thanks a lot for the recipe 🙂
Thankyou rachna, glad you like it.
I have tasted this during south India visit – delicious! Never knew this was so easy to made! 🙂
Thankyou and glad you will try soon
Awesome Panjamiratham recipe dear. Used to make for my brother’s kudam which include jackfruits too. We substitute jaggery with brown sugar as we were not familiar with jaggery then. Enjoyed those sessions. Going to try yr recipe for Thaipusam offering at hm. Thank you darling. You gv an amazing one at the right time.????????????
Thank you and glad you will try it.Yes, you can substitute the fruits- we do grapes, jackfruit, bits of chikkoo, pomegranate seeds etc too.I like the one with jackfruit too.never tried brown sugar.. may be will try for the quicker one
We make panchamrut with milk, curd , honey, ghee and sugar , never heard of this version Seema..but would definitely give it a try
Panchamrut is different from panchamritham. We make panchamrut for certain other festivals like avaniavittam and this panchamritham for karthigai and all Muruga related festivals. This recipe here dissimilar to the offering that is made in Palani temple.South Indian food has a lot of unexplored treats like this.
such a unique recipe..i love South India when it comes to food 🙂
thanks alot!
Indeed a unique recipe. Please do give it a try and let us know how you like it, Disha.
panchamrutham sweet recipe for all south indian mainly for Tamil Nadu people.
Waiting for future post
Thankyou for stopping by. there have been plenty of posts especially south indian, please enjoy and try out the recipes. Thankyou for staying on for future.
Ahhh! I think I have tasted this yum panchamrutham as a kid in our neighbour’s place. Every time Aunty came back she carried some of this delicious panchamrutham! I did not know it was so simple to prepare at home. Thanks you know what is next on the cards. 😀
Panchamritham is a perfect south Indian favourite. Yes, do give it a go and give us a tag when you do.
We make the panchamrutham a bit different. Did not knew that this too had versions. This looks so heavenly delicious.
Panchamrutham is considered God’s nectar not only in the south of India but all over, No Pooja, religious ceremony or havan is complete without it. We don’t add banana. However, would love to try this variety of panchamrutham for a change.