![]() ![]() Palm trees with only a single stem die once they’re cut and the heart is removed, whereas multi-stemmed palms regenerate every two to three years, making them a more environmentally-friendly, sustainable option. Years of over-harvesting wild hearts of palm led to regulations limiting farmers to harvesting only multi-stemmed palms on farms created specifically to grow them. The laborious harvesting process involves cutting down the trees and carefully removing the bark and other fibers until only the tender heart remains. Hearts of palm are culled from a handful of palm tree species, including the coconut, açaí and sabal palms. Today, hearts of palm grace our plates in salads, dips and a host of other dishes, including as a meat substitute for vegetarians. They are native to South and Central America, dating back to Mayan civilizations in that region. Harvested from the core of certain varieties of palm trees, hearts of palm are the tender inner stalk found at the tree’s center, or heart. Jones’ “Palms throughout the World,” published in 1995 by the Smithsonian Institution Press.Hearts of palm are a mystery to many but the path to discovering this curious vegetable begins with its name. ![]() (That’s a hint for its common name.)įor more information on the fascinating palm family, consider David L. As an extra bonus, this palm also produces delicious fruits which look like small peaches. It’s a thorny palm, which grows to 60’ high, widely grown now in cultivation in much of Central America. Our mystery plant is a palm species, however, that produces plenty of sprouts from the base, and can be harvested repeatedly. Unfortunately, cutting the “heart” or bud out of a palm tree basically kills the plant, and this has indeed led to the destruction of large numbers of palms in the wild. If you are starting to get hungry for these, you might find some in the Latin American section of your local well-stocked supermarket. I’m thinking that a pickled “escabeche” salad of jicama, corn, and palm hearts would go very well with carnitas (roasted pork, of course) and an ice-cold cerveza. They have a sort of soft crunchiness, with a sweetish, nutty flavor. They also taste terrific.Īs a snack, the canned variety (pictured here) serves nicely. These hearts can be eaten raw, pickled, or cooked, and are an important source of vitamins and minerals, as well as dietary fiber. The sections are then sliced to convenient lengths. ![]() Harvesting the palm “hearts” involves cutting the growing bud from the top, or end, of the plant, along with associated tissue behind it. They come from any number of different tropical and temperate palm species. “Hearts of palm,” or “palm hearts”, or “palm cabbage,” (or “palmitos” in Spanish) are a traditional and modern food source in Latin America, and more recently, as a sort of gourmet item. More recently, palms have increased dramatically in the horticulture business, and are now widely used as street trees and for landscaping accents. In various cultures, different palm species have been extremely important as sources of building material, temporary shelters, fuel, charcoal, containers, fiber, clothing, oils, waxes, beverages, and especially as a food source. The usefulness of palms to humans has been known since antiquity. ![]() In South Carolina, a decidedly temperate place, climate-wise, that is, we have four native palm species. Palms occur widely around the world, especially in the tropics, but are also fairly well represented in temperate regions. Some species are actually climbers, and rather viny. They are perennial plants, commonly growing to be tall trees, or sometimes occurring as more shrubby plants. The palm family (it has two equivalent botanical names: Palmae and Arecaceae), you will recall, is a big one, with nearly 3,000 named species. I’ll have to tell you straightaway that they are “hearts of palm” - Peach palm, Bactris gasipaes -and they do indeed come from a palm tree. They look sort of like Vienna sausages (yum!) but of course they are not. ![]()
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