thumb|Fresh heart of palm

thumb|Julienned ubod (coconut heart) from the [[Philippines]]

Heart of palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees, most notably the coconut (Cocos nucifera), juçara (Euterpe edulis), açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea), palmetto (Sabal spp.), and peach palm. Heart of palm may be eaten on its own, and often it is eaten in a salad. Hearts of palm are traditionally harvested in the cultures of Southeast Asia and in South and Central America.

Names

Major local names for heart of palm include:

  • palm cabbage or palmetto (Florida and Trinidad)
  • palmito (South and Central America)
  • ubod (in the Philippines) and umbut (Borneo, Malay Peninsula)
  • củ hủ dừa in Vietnam;
  • Latinates cœur de palmier (in French); corazón de palma or col de palma (in Spanish); coração de palma (Portuguese) and cuore di palma (in Italian).

Nutrition

Hearts of palm are rich in fiber, potassium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, copper, vitamins B2, B6, and C. along with being a good ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The high sodium content noted on the chart for hearts of palm relates to the canned product; it is not present in the fresh product.

Cultivation

Harvesting and eating heart of palm is traditional in the cultures of Southeast Asia and South and Central America, pre-dating the colonial era. The species used depend on the region.

thumb|Heart of palm being prepared in [[Brazil for sale]]

In Central and South America, the dominant species used are juçara palms (Euterpe edulis), açaí palms (Euterpe oleracea), and pejibaye palms (Bactris spp.). Other species used include sabal palmettos (Sabal spp.), grugru palms (Acrocomia aculeata), royal palms (Roystonea spp.), Astrocaryum spp., maripa palms (Attalea maripa), urucuri palms (Attalea phalerata), cohune palms (Attalea cohune), hesper palms (Brahea spp.), and Syagrus spp., among others. A 2000 case study in the journal Biotropica proposed that Euterpe edulis could be sustainably grown and harvested. Today, commercially available palmito in South America is typically derived from wild Euterpe oleracea and cultivated Bactris gasipaes.

Cultivation has also spread to South Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world, utilizing native palms like Ravenea madagascariensis, Phoenix canariensis, Lodoicea maldivica, and Borassus aethiopum, among others.

There are palm varieties that have become domesticated farm species as an alternative to sourcing from wild palms. The main variety that has been domesticated is Bactris gasipaes, known in English as peach palm. This variety is the most widely used for canning. Peach palms are self-suckering and produce multiple stems, with up to 40 on one plant. This lets producers lower costs by harvesting several stems from a plant while avoiding the death of the palm. Another advantage is that the peach palm has been selectively bred to eliminate the thorns of its wild cousins. Since harvesting is still labor-intensive, palm hearts are regarded as a delicacy.

As of 2008, Costa Rica was the primary source of fresh palm hearts in the U.S. Peach palms are also cultivated in Hawaii, While there are concerns about the negative impacts of harvesting palm hearts, further conservation efforts could be explored using the research on the outcome of adaptations to moisture within the grown environment on the life span of heart of palm seeds.

See also

  • Swamp cabbage
  • Banana pith
  • Palmyra sprout
  • Deckenia nobilis
  • Sago

References