Hearts of Palm

Brazil was the highest producer and exporter of wild or uncultivated hearts of palm but in the 90s the unsustainable poaching for stems started and the traditional method of harvesting led to dying of the palm trees. This in turn has led to the endangering of the main producing species - Euterpe Edulis. Ecuador now has used this as a boon for its cultivated palm hearts production and export industry. It has taken over the international market share and has become the highest producer and exporter of palm hearts to the world.

The main source for fresh palm hearts in the United States, however, is Costa Rica. Hawaii also produces some palm hearts to meet the needs of the restaurant business in the United States. It is also the official state tree of Florida. The highest importer and consuming nation of this vegetable is France, may be due to the fact that the French are considered to have a very healthy diet and the people there have healthy eating habits.

Heart of Palm Tree
Heart of palm is also called chonta or chontaduro in Ecuador, pejibaye in Costa Rica and popularly palmito in Brazil. It has many names in English like palm heart, peach palm, burglar's thigh and swamp cabbage. There are 2 varieties of hearts of palm, the cultivated and uncultivated. The cultivated hearts of palm are the domesticated farmed species which have undergone adaptation. The peach palm or pejibaye are the most commonly harvested palm trees. They are suckering and grow multiple stems. After planting a seed, it takes 20 - 30 months for the tree to become mature completely. As it grows multiple stems, each tree can produce up to around 40 stems and thus harvesting becomes cheaper. These domesticated species do not have thorns like the wild or uncultivated palms. In the process of harvesting, the palm tree is cut down and the bark is taken off so that the layers of white fiber are left around the center core. This center core is attached to a fibrous cylindrical base that has a large diameter. These fibers are then removed and what remains is the heart of palm or the center core. The center core and the base, both are edible. This process is quite labor intensive and hence the palm hearts are said to be a delicacy or a kind of a gourmet food. There are numerous ways in which palm hearts can be used in cooking, be it in soup recipes, salads or other dishes.

Heart of Palm Nutrition
There are many hearts of palm health benefits as they can be used in various forms in food. They are not just used widely in the Latin American diet but also in a lot of other cuisines. A 100g serving of canned palm hearts contain just about 28 calories, no cholesterol, saturated fats or sugar unless cooked that way, about 425 mg of sodium, 178 mg of potassium, 1g fat, 5g of carbohydrates, 2-3 g of dietary fiber, and about 3 g of protein. Palm hearts nutrition facts show that they should be consumed considering that they are low in cholesterol and sugar. They are also a vital source of protein, riboflavin, potassium and a great source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, copper and zinc. It is also very good to be included in a vegetarian diet. Being high in dietary fiber, palm hearts aid in digestion. The only negative aspect with the hearts of palm is that it is high in sodium. This vegetable has a lot of history behind it; it was consumed by the native Americans in Florida, the Mayan people and even the native people in South America.

Another point to note here would be that this vegetable is normally available only in the canned form in stores and this may affect the sodium levels. Nonetheless, hearts of palm can be included in your meals often or occasionally depending upon your taste. I hope to come up with some interesting palm heart recipes in my next article, so do keep an eye!