Wine palm, Palmyra Palm

Where does Wine palm grow?

Found in: Andamans, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, East Africa, East Timor, Egypt, Gambia, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Africa, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Philippines, SE Asia, Senegal, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, West Africa, West Timor

Notes: There are 7-10 Borassus species.

Status: The fruit are sold in markets. It is not known if it is used for food in Papua New Guinea. The young seeds are preserved in heavy sugar syrup and sold in jars or cans. It is very important in some countries.

Growing Wine palm, Palmyra Palm

Cultivation: Plants are grown from seed. Seed take 2-6 months to germinate. Seedlings are difficult to transplant so seed should be sown where they are to grow. To extract the sap, male flower stalks give more sap than female. The unopened flower stalk is tied with a string then banged with a mallet for short times over 3 days before the end being sliced off and the sap collected. A small slither is cut off the end each day to keep the sap flowing.

Edible Uses: The flesh and the water of the fruit are edible. They can be eaten fresh or made into ice-cream. Edible starch can be extracted from the stem. The palm heart is edible. The palm can be tapped for sugary sap. This can be drunk, boiled and concentrated or fermented. The seeds are germinated and the young shoots eaten. The swollen storage leaf is eaten either as flour or boiled and dried. CAUTION: The palm hearts have been shown to be toxic to rats even when cooked.

Production: One flower stalk can yield 2 litres per day of sap. One person can tap 30 trees per day. Each flowering stalk will yield for about 3 months. Tapping normally begins when a palm is 20 years old but then may continue for 30 years. A single palm can yield 100,000 litres of palm wine over a 40 year lifespan. The fruit matures in 120 days.

Nutrition Info

Wine palm, Palmyra Palm Photos

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