Palm Sunday

     Today is Palm Sunday and Christians around the world are celebrating the day when Jesus was welcomed into the city of Jerusalem as they would greet a returning victorious warrior.  The crowds cut palm branches and covered his route with them in his honor, only days before they turned on him and cried out for his execution.
     The palm tree is not native to our country, except for a few tropical locations, like Florida and Hawaii.  It is the state tree of The Sunshine State, but it's not something that the rest of the country is familiar with.  So that's why most of us are unsure of exactly what hearts of palm really is, or how to use it in meal preparation.

Heart of Palms (Photo: Margarita Persico)

     It is the edible inner portion of the stem of the cabbage palm tree.  In the wild, harvesting the stem would kill the entire tree.  So certain varieties of the palm tree have been domesticated and have the ability to grow multiple stems which can then be cut off without damaging the tree itself.  The shoots are, as one source states, "slender, ivory-colored, delicately flavored and expensive."  The major exporters of hearts of palm are Hawaii, Costa Rica, Brazil and Ecuador.  Florida has a ban on it's harvesting.

     Hearts of Palm can be sold fresh or canned and is used primarily in salads, but can also be deep fried.