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What the heck are ... Hearts of Palm?
 It sort of looks like a cross between rings of Calamari and blanched celery. But it's not. It sort of tastes like a cross between asparagus and artichokes. But it's not. It sort of has the texture of water chestnuts. But it's not. Down in Florida, it used to be poor-man's-food during the depression. Now, it is imported as a delicacy from Central and South America and is often called "millionaire's salad". Heart of Palm is the prized edible heart of young palm tree trunks. Hearts of palm are slender, ivory-colored and resemble white asparagus, without the tips. They have a silky, yet crisp, texture and a delicate flavor. Most commonly they are chilled and served in salad and appetizer dishes. They also go good in ceviche and can be heated or deep-fried.
 Hearts of palm has flourished for thousands of years throughout Central and South America. In fact, at the time Columbus arrived in the new world, the Carib Indians were taking full advantage of what they called the Pejibaye tree. Ol' Chris was probably the first European to ever eat Heats of Palm. (as a guest of the Indians, just before he gave them small pox as payment for their hospitality). Usually, you buy Hearts of Palm as little 4 inch long "rods" canned in citric acid water. But, if you really want to enjoy its almost brittle texture and delicate flavor, you need to get it fresh.  That is difficult (and expensive) to do because Heart of Palm only has a shelf life of about 2 weeks from the time it is cut. And, that assumes that it is refrigerated the entire time. Considering that it was cut by a native Indian, deep in the jungle, far up the river, where there is no electricity ... you can imagine why most of it is canned, and the fresh stuff costs about 4 times as much. But, it is worth it, if you can get it. And, you CAN get fresh Hearts of Palm at Tapino, in our "Chilled Asparagus and Hearts of Palm Salad".
 Today this young tree is grown, harvested, and canned (or shipped fresh) as a cash crop throughout Central and South America, especially Brazil. It is harvested at the age of about 12 to 18 months, when the plant is about 5 feet tall and has an outside perimeter of about 4 inches. Once peeled, the edible hearts range in diameter from pencil-thin to 1 - 1.5 inches.
Palms are easily divided into two main groups by their leaves - the Feather palms with pinnate fronds looking like enormous feathers; and the Fan palms with palmate, fan-like leaf blades resembling giant hands.
Palms belong to an old and distinguished family (Palmaceae) containing several thousand species. They are among the oldest known flowering plants, with only the orchid and grass families containing more species. Many are small, but some grow more than 100 feet tall, rivaling the larger deciduous trees in size.
 In America, the story of "Hearts of Palm" starts and ends in Florida. Hearts of palm are, literally, the heart of the sabal Palmetto, a tall, tough-barked graceful palm that is the state tree of Florida. It has a single trunk and can grow as tall as 40 feet. The young trees, called "swamp cabbage" by native Floridians, was long regarded as poor people's food--and was actively cut down as a source of food during the Depression.  No mean task in the days before chain saws, considering that the bark is studded with long sharp thorns that the native Seminoles used as sewing needles. It wasn't long, however, before its extreme tenderness and delicacy was noticed--and its name changed from "swamp cabbage" to "millionaires' salad." Millions of them were whacked down, peeled and carted off. It wasn't long before the state of Florida acted to protect the state tree from the ravenous gourmets by enacting legislation limiting harvests of palmetto trees, which were dying from "heartlessness" in record numbers. Today, comercially harvested Hearts of Palm come mainly from a number of countries in Central and South America, Hawaii and Southeast Asia.
Commercial Heart of Palm, also called palm heart, palmito, or swamp cabbage, is harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees: Palmito Juçara (Euterpe edulis), Açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea), sabal (Sabal spp.) and pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes) palms.
 Over the years, consumption of hearts of palm has caused much controversy, due to the process by which the vegetable is obtained. The extraction of the palm's heart (the soft inner growing tip) involves the inevitable death of the plant because its growing tip is removed, and it cannot recover.  When harvesting the young palm, the tree is cut off just below the growing tip and the bark is removed leaving layers of white fibers around a center core. During processing the fibers are removed leaving the center core or "heart" of the palm. The center core is attached to a slightly more fibrous cylindrical base with a larger diameter. The entire cylindrical center core and the attached base are edible. The center core is considered more of a delicacy because of its lower fiber content.
In the modern world, there are two principle sources of Heart of Palm. Approximately 44% of the Hearts of Palm that come into the United States are from Brazil. The remaining 56% are primarily from Costa Rica, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. In order to grow properly, Hearts of Palm need approximately 150 inches of rainfall each year, and cannot survive freezing weather conditions. Therefore, those tropical countries with abundant rainfall are the best producing areas.
 Brazil is the highest producer of uncultivated hearts of palm from a young variety of Pejibaye Palm tree, a small tree native to the American tropics and a look-a-like to the African Palm tree when fully grown. The plant is self-sufficient, and grows in the wilds of the tropical jungles. The controversy comes from two facts. First, the palm grows in the wild jungles, and to get it, roads are built, and processing plants are built and mankind encroaches on the jungle. The other fact is that harvesting the palm heart, kills the tree. As more trees are harvested, bio-diversity of the rain forest is reduced. For some, it ranks right up there with killing a buffalo for its tongue, or a rhino for its horn, or an elephant for its tusks. Evil! You say? Well .... .... The other side of that story (as told by the people who harvest wild Hearts of Palm) is that this industry provides a way for the indigenous people of the rain forest to make a living without sacrificing their traditional lifestyles and folkways. Also, only palms that have produced seeds for at least 2 years are large enough to be harvested, and the Native harvesters replant these seeds throughout the rain forest as they go. Thus, providing a net increase in the number of living palm trees. Furthermore, the palms only grow well under the canopy of the larger jungle trees, so it is in the best interests of the harvesters to preserve the jungle ecosystem in its natural state. Thus, thwarting rampant land clearing by big developers. The harvested stems are transported mainly by human power over existing footpaths and by canoe, to the small canning plants - with little impact on the environment. Unfortunately for us gourmets, the wild product has inconsistent quality, is of dubious freshness, and may be fibrous and woody tasting.
 The Alternative to wild grown and harvested Heart of Palm, is plantation grown Palm. These Palm varieties have undergone a process of adaptation and have become a "domesticated" farm species. The main variety that has been domesticated is the botanical species Bactris gasipaes Palm, known in Ecuador as "chontaduro" in Costa Rica as "pejibaye", and in English, it is commonly called "Peach Palm." Peach palms are self suckering, not single stemed, and produce multiple stems, sometimes up to 40 on one plant, so harvesting several stems of palm heart from a  plant is not such an ecological problem because the original palm plant can live on. Another advantage it has over other palms is that it has been selectively bred to eliminate the vicious thorns of its wild cousins. Given that harvesting is still a costly and labor intensive task, palm hearts are regarded as a delicacy. At present, Costa Rica is the primary source of fresh palm hearts in the US. During the last decade, Peach Palm has also been planted in Hawaii, and is now has limited distributed on the mainland, but mostly only to the restaurant trade.
When the individual palm stem reaches a mature height of approximately 6 feet tall, with a diameter of about 4 inches, it is ready to be harvested and processed. The peach palm attains this height and diameter between 18 and 30 months of age. The palm stalks are chopped off about 18 inches above ground, leaves removed, and debarked, revealing a tender white center that is actually the "growing tip" of undeveloped leaves of the palm that have yet to differentiate and emerge from their casing within the stalk. This is the "heart of palm."
 Canned Hearts of palm are generally packed in water and citric acid, and should be rinsed in cold water before using, The fresh version of palm heart does not discolor upon being cut and has a shelf life of about 2 weeks if kept refrigerated at 40°F and wrapped in food-grade plastic. Fresh Hearts of Palm are seldom seen in your local grocery store due to their short shelf life. At Tapino, we get our Fresh heats of Palm from Costa Rican Plantations to avoid being called heartless tree killers! Besides, fresh is better than canned.
Heart of palm is soft, ivory-colored, crisp in texture and delicate in flavor. It is typically used in salads or "ceviches" or even mixed in or fried for main dishes. The heart of palm is growing daily in the variety of uses - the beauty of this gourmet vegetable is that it is so versatile. Anything you do with a carrot, you can do with a heart of palm! Hearts of Palm contain no palm oil, and they are actually a very good health food. Heart of Palm is very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Riboflavin and Potassium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Copper and Manganese, Omega-3 fatty acids, and anthocyanin, a member of the flavonoid class of antioxidants. And, it is low in calories and sodium.
Nutritional Information:
| Serving Size: 4oz. |
Fiber 4.3 |
| Calories 40 |
Protein 4g |
| Calories from fat 0 |
Sodium 0 |
| Total Fat 0.4g. |
Dietary Fiber 1g |
| Carbohydrates 4 g. |
Vitamin C 15% |
| Net Carbohydrates |
Calcium 1% |
| from sugar 0 g. |
Iron 25% |
 Harvested very young and trimmed to the quick, the small Costa Rican cylindrical hearts of palm are dense and uniform in texture and completely edible. The Costa Rican "pejibaye" heart has a sweet, nutty flavor, often likened to artichoke hearts.. Hawaiian hearts are harvested later and are much larger, with each weighing about a pound and a half per cylinder. These exhibit a wide range of textures, shapes, and flavors, all more pronounced than the smaller forms. For commercial purposes, the Hawaiian hearts are divided into three parts: the wide base, the fully trimmed meat, and the slender upper shaft in its bamboo-like sheath.  Sometimes tightly furled and pleated, new paper-thin leaves twist around the tip and make an unusual garnish.
We looked and looked for stories and claims of magical or aphrodisiac powers for Hearts of Palm - as you know, we are all about the metaphysical aspects of good food! Unfortunately, we could not find any trivia to tease you with. Apparently the Central American Natives felt no need to ward off evil, cure illness, enhance .... uh ... performance, or insure immortality... at least not until after being "discovered" by the Europeans. By then, it was too late! The good news is that at Tapino, you can eat Millionaire's Salad for only 6 bucks. not bad for a serving of fresh tree trunks! |
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