Detecting the Addition of Cane Sugar to Authentic Palm Sugar Using δ13C‰ Analysis of an Internal Isotopic Standard

Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as “coconut sugar.” When the palms are 15 to 20 years old they start flowering and it is only then that they yield the sap from which palm sugar is made