Silver Serenoa repens seeds

[aztropic]

Ripe on the trees now. Stop on by,and give some a try. Slow growers,but definitely a bullet proof palm tree for the Arizona desert. Local pickup...

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Fusca]

Scott, have you ever eaten the fruits?  I used to eat them around this time of year in SA since it's supposed to be quite healthy.  Tastes horrible though in my opinion.    But it's one way to start the seed cleaning process!

Edited October 30, 2022 by Fusca

[jimmyt]

47 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Scott, have you ever eaten the fruits?  I used to eat them around this time of year in SA since it's supposed to be quite healthy.  Tastes horrible though in my opinion.    But it's one way to start the seed cleaning process!

@Fusca Not a very good sales pitch!

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:49 AM, aztropic said:

Ripe on the trees now. Stop on by,and give some a try. Slow growers,but definitely a bullet proof palm tree for the Arizona desert. Local pickup...

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

How big are the fruit when not dried out. I am trying to I.D. a fruiting palm here that looks like silver serenoa but the inflorescence does not look right.  The fruit is the size of a large table grape.

[aztropic]

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

Scott, have you ever eaten the fruits?  I used to eat them around this time of year in SA since it's supposed to be quite healthy.  Tastes horrible though in my opinion.    But it's one way to start the seed cleaning process!

Never tried tasting/eating any palm fruits other than Phoenix dactylifera. 

Guess I'm just not that adventurous ...

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[GoatLockerGuns]

13 hours ago, Fusca said:

Scott, have you ever eaten the fruits?  I used to eat them around this time of year in SA since it's supposed to be quite healthy.  Tastes horrible though in my opinion.    But it's one way to start the seed cleaning process!

 

13 hours ago, jimmyt said:

Not a very good sales pitch!

An early account of what its like to eat Serenoa repens fruits can be found below (Hale EM. 1898. Saw Palmetto. (Sabal Serrulata. Serenoa Serrulata.) Its History Botany Chemistry Pharmacology Provings Clinical Experience and Therapeutic Applications. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel):

"The Saw Palmetto berries, or more properly drupes, ripen in October and November, and may be found until the middle of December. They are about the size of the olive, dark purple in color, and contain a large quantity of juice, and a pit shaped like that of the olive. The berries are at first exceedingly sweet to the taste, but in a few seconds this is followed by an acrid, pungent sensation that spreads to the fauces, nasal mucous membrajie and larynx. This is in turn succeeded by a feeling of smoothness in all those parts, as if they had been coated with oil. The general impression is that of a sweet and decidedly strong, though not unpleasant, butyraceous taste, which increases with the age of the fruit."

In case you were wondering, "butyraceous" means "Having the qualities of butter; resembling butter."

[Fusca]

8 hours ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

An early account of what its like to eat Serenoa repens fruits can be found below (Hale EM. 1898. Saw Palmetto. (Sabal Serrulata. Serenoa Serrulata.) Its History Botany Chemistry Pharmacology Provings Clinical Experience and Therapeutic Applications. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel):

"The Saw Palmetto berries, or more properly drupes, ripen in October and November, and may be found until the middle of December. They are about the size of the olive, dark purple in color, and contain a large quantity of juice, and a pit shaped like that of the olive. The berries are at first exceedingly sweet to the taste, but in a few seconds this is followed by an acrid, pungent sensation that spreads to the fauces, nasal mucous membrajie and larynx. This is in turn succeeded by a feeling of smoothness in all those parts, as if they had been coated with oil. The general impression is that of a sweet and decidedly strong, though not unpleasant, butyraceous taste, which increases with the age of the fruit."

In case you were wondering, "butyraceous" means "Having the qualities of butter; resembling butter."

I didn't find them sweet at any point but to each his own I guess.  I didn't like CIDP dates either!

[aztropic]

20 hours ago, Jeff zone 8 N.C. said:

How big are the fruit when not dried out. I am trying to I.D. a fruiting palm here that looks like silver serenoa but the inflorescence does not look right.  The fruit is the size of a large table grape.

Fruit size sounds exactly spot on. 1 inch oblong is what mine measure out to.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

31 minutes ago, aztropic said:

Fruit size sounds exactly spot on. 1 inch oblong is what mine measure out to.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Thanks for the answer. I guess I am looking at Silver serenoa.

[GoatLockerGuns]

3 hours ago, Fusca said:

I didn't find them sweet at any point but to each his own I guess.

But were they butyraceous?

2 hours ago, Jeff zone 8 N.C. said:

I guess I am looking at Silver serenoa.

Here are some pictures of a few super-ripe Serenoa repens 'Silver' fruits that I cleaned a couple of years ago (I think I picked them in January of 2021 from palms growing at The Pearl in San Antonio; way past the typical harvest season):

They smelled very sweet when I was cleaning them.  At this "ripeness" level (or "rotting" level, depending how you look at it), I had a 100% germination rate within three weeks.  I guess they do look like large table grapes.

[Fusca]

10 minutes ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

But were they butyraceous? 

I don't know about butyraceous but they were definitely juicy, oily and I experienced the pungent sensation that lasts for several minutes in your mouth.  And they were the same ripe color of the ones in your photo.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Fusca

[GoatLockerGuns]

4 minutes ago, Fusca said:

I don't know about butyraceous but they were definitely juicy, oily and I experienced the pungent sensation that lasts for several minutes in your mouth.  And they were the same ripe color of the ones in your photo.

Yeah, that account from 1898 didn't recommend eating large quantities of them to get the health benefits either.  The next section provided details on how to boil and process them to extract the oil for high concentration consumption.  It was billed to be a "wonder drug" for men; basically, the Flowmax/Miralax/Viagra (all rolled into one) of the late 19th century/early 20th century.  I believe a similar process for extracting the oil is still used today for the Saw Palmetto Supplement trade, just on a larger scale (see https://www.stevenfoster.com/education/monograph/sawpalmetto.html).

[aztropic]

On 10/30/2022 at 5:13 PM, jimmyt said:

@Fusca Not a very good sales pitch!

I semi cleaned a few of these seeds today. Very juicy and oily - the kind of seeds nobody wants to clean! Fingers were coated with 'butter'. Doesn't just wash off. Soap is definitely needed to break down the thick oils. 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, aztropic said:

I semi cleaned a few of these seeds today. Very juicy and oily - the kind of seeds nobody wants to clean! Fingers were coated with 'butter'. 

Bon appetit!  😄  So true they're no fun to clean...but worth the effort.  Hopefully folks will take advantage of the offer.  They do seem to hate clay soil.

 

[GoatLockerGuns]

14 hours ago, Fusca said:

They do seem to hate clay soil.

I have a bunch growing here.  They survived Palmageddon no problem.  The 'Silver' ones were a little less cold hardy for me.  Some suffered defoliation and spear pull at single digits (F), but recovered.  The 'Green' ones, on the other hand, sailed through with no damage/spear pull like it was no big deal.

[aztropic]

On 10/30/2022 at 4:25 PM, Fusca said:

Scott, have you ever eaten the fruits?  I used to eat them around this time of year in SA since it's supposed to be quite healthy.  Tastes horrible though in my opinion.    But it's one way to start the seed cleaning process!

Not me,but the birds have really been helping me out with the cleaning and seem to absolutely love this fruit. The seed below the fruit has a paper thin shell that is easily cracked, revealing nice clean seeds about the size of a peanut. Still have some seeds available for all the procrastinators...  Local pickup 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[Bigfish]

On 10/30/2022 at 7:25 PM, Fusca said:

Scott, have you ever eaten the fruits?  I used to eat them around this time of year in SA since it's supposed to be quite healthy.  Tastes horrible though in my opinion.    But it's one way to start the seed cleaning process!

Starving, shipwrecked Quakers described the taste as “rotten cheese steeped in tobacco juice,” lol.  Yummy!  🤣🤣🤣

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, Bigfish said:

Starving, shipwrecked Quakers described the taste as “rotten cheese steeped in tobacco juice,” lol.  Yummy!  🤣🤣🤣

Sounds about right!

[Hardypalms]

I remember going to Florida once and being in the parking lot of a grocery store. There were S. repens all over. They were loaded with seeds but it was prohibited to collect them, not sure if still is (All over the state, not only at this grocery store).

I of course took some, checking behind my shoulder at times like if i was robbing a bank 🤣

 

Pat