Palani Panchāmirtam is the oldest form of jam or fruit mix and preserves very well, even for months. And the saying is that ‘the olden it is, it tastes better'. The secret lies as much in the art of preparing it as in the quality of the fruit that is used as the basic ingredient. It is the small sized viruppāchchi plantains which account for it, the reason being that they have very little water content. Incidentally, Viruppāchchi is the name of a village (in the Palani Hills) where this particular variety of plantain is grown and marketed.