Heart of Palm

[Wai`anae Steve]

I had a Sabal that I think might have been mexicana growing in the wrong place for years.  It was not planted it just showed up one day about 10 years ago.

To big to dig out and I have enough anyway, so I cut it down and harvested the heart.  

I tasted it and it is GOOD.

Now the question is it safe to eat?

[Tad]

have you been dumping loads of mercury and solvents in your garden?

I think your safe eating it Steve!

even if you were living at a super fund site one or two meals of that wont hurt you, if it was a daily diet you might reconsider but to be honest with you I think your safe!!

please go into detail about the how you went about it!!

I have some sabals I would sacrifice!!

[Wai`anae Steve]

At its base it was about 14" diameter.  I just got out my chain saw and cut it just above ground level.

I then cut it up w/a machete working very hard to get to the center.  It was a lot of work and perhaps I have about 1/2 lb.

Here is what I got.  It's sitting on a normal sized American dinner plate.

[Tad]

looks good to me, a little italian dressing... maybe a vinagerette

[BigFrond]

How does it taste like?  Is it sweet, crunchy, chewy, etc... ?  BTW, can the heart of the archonto c. be eaten?  I have a bunch that I can harvest after my other prize palms reach respectable sizes (the kings must be cull to open up space).

[Darold Petty]

I have eaten Archontophoenix, Phoenix, Rhopalostylis, and the usual, canned products from the grocery store.  Of those three genera, the Rhopalostylis was the best flavor, by far!

[Wai`anae Steve]

(BigFrond @ Dec. 19 2007,23:40)

QUOTE

How does it taste like?  Is it sweet, crunchy, chewy, etc... ?  BTW, can the heart of the archonto c. be eaten?  I have a bunch that I can harvest after my other prize palms reach respectable sizes (the kings must be cull to open up space).

Some parts arer sweet, some a little bitter.  Also it is crunchy, but some parts are stringy.

[Ken Johnson]

I love eating fresh heart. The closer to the meristen the better. They are very good as a replacement for cabage. Slaw, corned beef and cabbage, any salad.

Mixed with shrimp and dressing and stuffed in half an avocado may be the best!

[PalmGuyWC]

You guys are all canabals!! When I was a kid in S. Georgia, we used to pull the emerging sphere out of Serenoa and it would snap off where it was tender and eatable and we would munch on the lower 2 or 3 inches. It was rather tastey.

Dick

[Tad]

I bet jubaeas are the best tasting of all!!!!

just kidding, (not) put your pitchforks away

[PalmGuyWC]

Yeah, Har, Har. Fat chance.  Considering their price these days, hearts of Jubaea would be more expensive than truffles.

On a serious note, I've never understood the process how they tap a Jubaea for its juices to make into wine. Anyone know?

Dick

[palmmermaid]

Growing up in the Panhandle section of Florida, swamp cabbage aka heart of palm was a mainstay of our diet.  We cooked them with fat back (a form of bacon) and tomatoes seasoned with salt and pepper.  It was a favorite with fried mullet - especially the roe - and hushpuppies and grits.  We were poor.  The well-to-do people did not eat swamp cabbage back then.  Now it is a delicacy and only available to the well-to-do.  Life is strange.

[bubba]

It is good and very common around here now.Reading Kitty's recipe, I can tell you that you did not want to miss that meal if you were invited.I have heard it referred to as "poke salad".

[Tad]

i am not saying you havent heard that, but poke salad is something different!

[PalmGuyWC]

Kitty,

Your post reminded me of my roots. I was born in S. Ga. on the west side of the Okefenokee Swamp not to far from the Florida border. I only have vague memories from that era, as we moved away when I was about 4 years old. My father filled in the childhood blanks of that period later on.

It was a terrible time at the end of the great depression, and my father considered himself lucky to have job. He was a timberman and was the forman of the people who gathered the tar from pine trees to make turpentine. Turpentine was big business back then.

One of the memories I have is that my Dad rode a huge black horse named Silver. He was so black he glimmered in the sun light, thus the name. I remember when my Dad would return home from work, I would run to the end of the lane, and he would scoop me up in his arms and and I would giggle and laugh bouncing on the horse back to the house.

I guess we were very poor then, but I was to young to be aware of it, and I don't think I ever missed a meal. My dad was a hunter, and I don't think we ever had hearts of palms, but I remember eating mullet row, grits and hushpuppies. We ate a lot of fish as we were on the Swanuchiee Creek (sp?) which is one of the headwaters of the Swannie River which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. I can also remember eating a lot squirrel and quale which were plentifull in the surrounding woods.

It was later in another location in S. Georgia that we kids used to pull the spears out of Serenoa and munch on the tender part.

Dick

[Ken Johnson]

Great stories Dick and Kitty. Swamp cabdage recipies are often closly held secrets.

I have mentioned here before that the best heart I have ever had is from coconut. The flavor has a hint of oil that makes it different. Also if you disect it a bit you can pull off the undeveloped bloom spikes. They are even richer in oil.

This must be a bad subject in California, sorry folks but coconut is expendable here.

[PalmGuyWC]

Don't worry Ken.  People keep trying to grow them in Calif., and they keep dying, so apparently they are expendable out here too. I was once told that Coconuts are the essence of the tropics....and Calif. ain't tropical.

Dick

[merrill]

A [late] horticultural friend grew Washingtonia robusta for cabbage, and said it was excellent.  I'm going to try filibusta, which grows fast and is coldhardier.  Has anyone tried any Washingtonia cabbage?

merrill

[Tad]

(merrill @ Dec. 20 2007,18:48)

QUOTE

A [late] horticultural friend grew Washingtonia robusta for cabbage, and said it was excellent.  I'm going to try filibusta, which grows fast and is coldhardier.  Has anyone tried any Washingtonia cabbage?

merrill

Merrill I feeeeeeeeeeeelllllll a photo documentation episode a coming on for the weekend!

[Tad]

check out the Farm thread for the step by step of heart o washingtonia!!

[mjff]

(PalmGuyWC @ Dec. 20 2007,06:23)

QUOTE

Yeah, Har, Har. Fat chance.  Considering their price these days, hearts of Jubaea would be more expensive than truffles.

On a serious note, I've never understood the process how they tap a Jubaea for its juices to make into wine. Anyone know?

Dick

When I was researching Jubaeas prior to buying them I read somewhere that they chop the tree down, hack the top off, then collect the sap that oozes out in barrels.  The sap flows for a month after cutting it down.  Thinking about making wine out of one of yours Dick?  ???  I guess if you did it that way you would have a heart to eat while waiting for the sap to ferment.  

[merrill]

Hi, palmotrafficante:

W/ apologies, my computer expertise is nil, and I don't know what Farm thread is, at least can't find it.  Would be very grateful to hear about the quality of Washingtonia cabbage.

At risk of stating the obvious, keep the Jubaea base well down and the sap will flow better.

merrill

[Tad]

merrill the thread i am refering to is called the farm

[mjff]

Geez Tad, give the poor computer illiterate guy a break.  Merrill click this http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboar...t=ST;f=1;t=7848 and it will take you to the beginning (at this point its 9 pages long, so wait till you have some time).  The palm heart part is on page 9 http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin....;st=320 if you want to skip the rest.

[PalmGuyWC]

Yeah, Tad, time to start a new thread.  Even my brand new I MAC that Santa brought me is getting strained, and I have cable too. I sure enjoy your exploits, so keep them coming. How about some pics of your B. decumbens sometime?

Dick

[Tad]

i too am comp illiterate i have no idea how to do that thing you did martin!

[Tad]

no decumbens porn!! tooo many people whine about how I came into possesion of them!

[mjff]

Tad,

Hold down the left mouse button as you pass the cursor over the website address to highlight it, then copy it (click the right mouse button with the cursor on the highlighted area and select copy from the menu that will appear), then paste it in your post by clicking the right mouse button with the cursor at the location you want to paste it to and selecting paste from the menu that will appear.

If you're tired of hearing people whine about how you obtained your B. decumbens, feel free to throw them on the trailer with my filiferas and dactyliferas.  

[Tad]

(mjff @ Dec. 23 2007,13:29)

QUOTE

If you're tired of hearing people whine about how you obtained your B. decumbens, feel free to throw them on the trailer with my filiferas and dactyliferas.  

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, NOT!!!!!!!!

[Brad-Tampa]

Hello and Happy Holidays to all,

Just a side note for saftey, The Pokeweed refered to in post 14 is indeed a old time Southern dish, but Pokeweed is poisonous unless boiled, just in case someone wanted to expierment!

Also, a quick way to harvest a Sabal palm heart is to use a chain saw to cut vertically, just off center and then the heart can be pulled out and trimmed down to the good part. I've seen someone expierenced do it in minutes.

Brad