Global population growth requires an increase in the number of products. Vegetable oil is no exception. The world produces and consumes huge quantities of it. In Russia, the most common type of vegetable oil is sunflower oil. In addition to it, there are still several dozen varieties, all of them have a name according to the plant or fruit from which they are produced. The most popular include palm, soy, rapeseed, olive and sunflower. Moreover, they also differ in the level of world production and consumption, for example, the leading position is occupied by palm oil, accounting for 36%, the second is soybean - 26%, the third is rapeseed - 15%, and only the fourth is sunflower, occupying 9 percent of the total.

What is it made from?

Palm oil is extracted from the fruits of the oil palm, which is native to West Africa. Its Latin name – Elaeisguineensis – is translated as “olive” (elaion) and “Guinean” (guineensis). The first mention of it is found in the records of traders traveling across the African continent, dating back to the 15th century. However, today the main suppliers of this natural product are Indonesia and Malaysia. It's not hard to guess why - thanks to the tenacity and hard work of these East Asian peoples, and of course the warm and humid climate there. A third of the world's palm oil is grown and produced in these regions. In nature, palm trees can reach 30 meters, cultivated varieties - 15 meters. The tree begins to bear fruit at the age of 3-4 years. From one hectare of young palm trees you can collect up to 3 tons of fruits, from mature plants - up to 15 tons. Palm trees grown on plantations produce crops 2-4 times a year. The fruits of the oil palm, similar to plums, grow in whole fruit clusters - “heaps” of many thousands, weighing from 25 kilograms.

What are palm tree fruits?

Looks like oil palm fruit They look like a plum or a date, under the pericarp of which there is an oily pulp, followed by a nut shell with an inner kernel (palm kernel oil is also prepared from it).

What are the main types of oils made from oil palm fruits?

Palm oil color directly depends on the color of the fruit pulp. It can have a wide range of colors: from yellowish to dark red shades. Its scent is reminiscent of violets. After processing, including rectification (separation into components), bleaching and deodorization, it can be used for food. The refined product is mainly used during frying and as a salad dressing. It is also one of the components in the preparation of ice cream, chips, “quick” cereals, chocolate, various bakery and confectionery products, sausages, mayonnaise, etc.

Palm kernel oil extracted from kernels its characteristics are very similar to coconut, and is often used with/instead of it. The production and processing process of this type is more complex and expensive. It is produced in smaller quantities and is valued higher than usual. The scope of application of the palm kernel product is the production of high-quality expensive cosmetics and perfumes.

About beneficial and harmful properties

It's impossible not to say that there are types according to the degree of processing: raw, refined and technical.
The most expensive of them is the first - unprocessed. But it does not occur here. Crude palm oil contains a lot of vitamin E, provitamin A, and carotenoids. This positive side product properties.
Its harm lies in:

1. high content of saturated fats,
2. high melting point, or refractoriness,
3. low levels of linoleic acid.

If such a degree of benefit/harm possesses something that has not undergone purification, then the refined product loses its benefits - that’s for sure, and the harmful characteristics increase.

Next view according to the degree of processing - technical. Most often, this type is used for the production of inexpensive cosmetics and technological lubricants. It's the cheapest. And therein lies the catch. Many food manufacturers, in order to save money, add exactly this to their production process. technical variety. There is no need to talk about its harmfulness. You just need to remember the unprocessed product and increase it elevenfold!

Whether or not to buy products that contain palm oil is up to everyone to decide for themselves.

The peach palm is a tree-like plant of the Palm family that produces edible fruits.

Straight slender palm tree 20-30 meters high. The trunk along its entire length or only in the upper part is covered with wide rings of long (up to 12 cm) black needle-shaped spines, which greatly complicate harvesting.

The leaves are long (2.4-3.6 meters), pinnately compound, lanceolate dark green, prickly at the edges, leaves. The petioles are also covered with spines.

The flowers are small, yellowish-white, collected in racemes up to 30 cm long, located under the very crown of the palm tree.

The fruits, yellow, orange or red, hang in clusters of 50-100 pieces. They are cup-shaped, conical or oval shape, about 6 cm long, with weakly defined six edges. Under the thin skin there is a sweet, mealy yellow-orange pulp and a large ovoid stone with a sharp tip.

The fruits of this palm tree are harvested from September to December, with the tree producing the richest harvest in October and November. Up to thirteen clusters of such fruits can grow on one palm tree. The palm tree blooms twice a year. If the soil is moist enough, the peach palm in Panama can produce two harvests per year.

The tree begins to bear fruit at 2-3 years, then the fruits can be picked by an adult standing on the ground. As the palm grows in height, the clusters of fruit become increasingly difficult to reach, so when harvesting, for example, the Panamanians use special devices to pick these clusters and make the fall of these delicate fruits to the ground as soft as possible.

This is what Heinrich Walter Bätz, who traveled through the Amazon in the mid-nineteenth century, wrote about the peach palm, or as it is also called peihuara: “The famous “peach palm”, pupunha….. (“Guilielma speciosa”). I believe that the name is given by the similarity of color and not by the taste of the fruit, because it is dry and mealy, and the taste can be compared to chestnuts with cheese. ... This tree makes a wonderful decoration; it grows in clumps near houses covered with palm leaves; when fully developed, the pupunha reaches from fifty to sixty feet in height. The cluster of ripe fruits is difficult to lift to a strong man, and each tree bears several such brushes. Nowhere in the Amazon does pupunha grow wild. This is one of the few plant products (including three genera of mandi oka and American banana species) that the Indians have cultivated since time immemorial... And only more developed tribes were engaged in its cultivation... About twelve fruits are enough to completely satiate an adult.”

Distribution of the peach palm

The homeland of the Peach Palm is the Amazonian jungle of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. This palm has long been cultivated and distributed Indian tribes to neighboring areas. Most important economic importance she has in Costa Rica. Also cultivated in Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, northern South America and in the Antilles. The peach palm was introduced into cultivation in the Philippines in 1924, and in India in the 1970s.

Uses of peach palm

In addition to the fact that the fruit has excellent taste, it also contains an insane amount of vitamins, minerals, organic compounds, which make it simply a unique food product. The fruit contains a lot of protein structures, carbohydrates, vitamins C, E, A, B, K, as well as potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.

Peach palm fruits - effective source energy. 100 grams of fruit contain 37 grams of carbohydrates, which are the building blocks of our energy supply, and by breaking down these carbohydrates, our body is able to very quickly renew itself and recharge itself with energy. It is because of these wonderful useful properties, is popular in South American countries and is becoming more and more in demand around the globe.

Digestive system

Like most other vegetables and fruits, peach palm fruit is an excellent and versatile source of fiber. It plays an important role during digestion because its coarse fibers slow down the digestion process. This, in turn, has a positive effect on reducing bloating and helps prevent more serious gastrointestinal diseases such as stomach ulcers and colon cancer.

Heart Health and Diabetes

Fiber plays a very important role in the fight against diabetes and can help the body regulate insulin levels in the blood. By slowing down the absorption of glucose into the blood, fiber optimizes the functioning of many organs, such as the pancreas. Also, peach palm fruit fiber reduces the severity of the consequences of diabetes, strengthens the heart, and cleanses the body of excess cholesterol in the blood vessels and arteries, thereby reducing the chances of atherosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes.

Vision

One of the most important vitamins found in the fruit is vitamin A, as well as other carotenoids that help protect the body. Carotenes have a positive effect on eye health, and therefore improve vision, as they act as antioxidants, reducing cataracts, and also preventing degeneration macular spot in the eye cell.

Skin protection

Vitamin C, vitamin A, which are also found in the miracle fruit, maintain a healthy fluid balance in the body. Vitamins stimulate the regrowth of new skin cells and protect others. Potassium in human blood helps control the balance of water in the body, promotes fluid exchange in cells, thereby maintaining the functionality of all important elements body work.

In addition, the fruit contains many key minerals such as magnesium and calcium, which can normalize white blood cells and thus eliminate the chronic effects of free radicals.

Fruits in fresh It is not accepted to use.

The fruits are boiled for 2-3 hours in salted water, often with the addition of oil, after cutting the peel, then eaten hot. They are usually eaten with some kind of gravy or as a side dish for fatty dishes, since the peach palm pulp is a bit dry. The pulp of the fruit is also added to bread products, and a strong drink is prepared from them. alcoholic drink. The kernels are edible and taste like coconut.

The soft core from the upper part of the trunk (palmetto), like some other types of palm trees, is eaten raw or used in various dishes, or canned. It tastes similar to celery stalks. This part of the palm is consumed fresh or boiled, mixed with egg and used as a filling for casseroles. Also, when palm sap is fermented, an alcoholic drink is obtained. Chicha beer is made by fermenting unsalted boiled puree of these fruits, sometimes mixed with plantain. The production of such a drink is prohibited in Costa Rica, with the exception of reservations where Indians live.

The kernels are edible and taste like coconut.

In Panama, the fruits of the peach palm provide food for many species of parrots, including those listed as endangered and endangered.

Carefully collected fruits (without dents) can be stored at room conditions within a week.

Palm wood is used as building material, and the leaves are used to make roofing for huts.

Peach palm leaves are used to feed pigs and chickens. Hollow palm trunks serve as gutters for water drainage, as pipes or flower planters.

The thorns with which this extraordinary palm tree protects its fruits from animals are used by the Indians to apply tattoos with which they decorate their bodies.

Fruit picking device

Palm trees are the healthiest for humans!

Different shapes and fruits palm trees, useful for humans, cause surprise and admiration! Exactly natural food most benefit the human body, since it, in fact, is itself a product of nature.

Acai palm - the healthiest fruit for athletes

Acai is native to northern Brazil. Acai palm trees grow most abundantly in the Brazilian state of Para, it is no coincidence that one of the
The name of the palm tree is Para palm.

Acai palms have graceful thin trunks and reach a height of 25, sometimes 30 meters.

Grow in large clusters (from 4 to 25 trees
in one place), while each cluster contains trees different ages– when old trunks die, young shoots take their place.
Acai leaves are large, long, and feathery.
The flowers are small, numerous, yellowish in color, collected in large inflorescences hanging down.

Fetus small, round, from 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter. The color is dark purple, almost black when fully ripe (in the red palm variety), or dark green (in the white palm variety).

Palms of the red variety are more common than the white variety.

Acai has an unusual taste, reminiscent of taste of raspberry or blackberry with a hint of nut. High-calorie - 100g - 182 kcal, contains the same amount of proteins as cow's milk, and energy value and the fat content even surpasses it.
Particularly rich in iron, vitamins B1 and E.
It is low in cholesterol, strengthens the immune system,
promotes muscle regeneration, what is especially important for athletesV , has a general tonic effect, recommended patients with anemia.

Range of application acai quite wide. The fruits are eaten fresh. They are also used to make juices, wines, liqueurs, cocktails, ice cream, various desserts, with the addition of sugar, honey and other fruits.

Acai is used in baking and to make various sauces.

Edible are also palm buds- Salads are made from them. Palm leaves are used to cover houses, and the bark is used to weave mats, bags, baskets, and hats.

Acai wood is prized throughout the world. Processing of acai fruit and wood is fundamental to the industry of this region.
For a while asaAnd remained a fruit exclusively for local consumption, then, thanks to its extraordinary nutritional properties, it gave impetus to a real “health boom” , spread throughout Brazil and began to successfully conquer Western and European countries.

Acai is included in Xan Vitan Mangosteen Juice ,

Butia is the most jelly palm.

This genus of palms is called "jelly palms" , since very tasty jelly is prepared from their fruits, or "apricot palms" . Syrups and jellies are made from butia fruits. The fruits of these palms are also used for the production of alcoholic beverages. This interesting genus of palm trees was named by the famous Italian palm specialist Odoardo Betzari (1843-1920).

Origin: South American continent. Under natural conditions, these palms reach a height of about 5 m.

Appearance: This feathery palm has spines at the base of its petioles. Densely feathery leaves Bhutia elegantly curved, while its green-blue feathers remain very stiff.

About 15 species of butia are known. At the base of the stem, the remains of fallen leaves are clearly visible.

Inflorescences are more than 1 m long, highly branched. The trunk, up to 50 cm in diameter, ends in a crown of large pinnately dissected leaves. The seeds contain about 60% oil.

The leaf petioles of adult leaves are armed with spines; those of young leaves are covered with thick felt. Widely used in ornamental gardening.

Mexican blue palm - the most armed palm

or Armed Brahea - Brahea armata, is an evergreen fan palm from 3 to 15 m high with leaves that have a silvery-bluish tint due to a visible waxy coating; they are split into long lobes.

Beautiful, frost-resistant Brachea palm grows in Mexico and California. It has a gray trunk, slightly swollen at the base, with traces of old leaves, and very attractive unusual blue-green fan leaves that are located at the top of the trunk.

The yellowish-white flowers, collected in long, give a special charm. panicles on the branches , which significantly exceed the length of leaf branches and are capable of reaching 4.5 meters long.

Flowering period is spring-summer. The fruits are round brown edible berries up to 2 cm in diameter.
At home, this palm tree grows in arid areas on marginal soils along with cacti.

Peach palm - the most beautiful palm fruits

In Venezuelan peach palm (lat. Bactris gasipaes) peaches, of course, do not grow. Its eighteen-meter trunk and even the leaves are covered with very sharp needle-like spines, protecting the ripening fruits from people and animals.

Straight slender palm 20-30 m high with long feathery leaves 2.4-3.6 m long. Fruits are yellow, orange or red, hanging in clusters of 50-100 pieces. They are cupped, conical or oval in shape. Beneath the thin skin is sweet yellow-orange pulp with a long, conical seed.

The egg-shaped, bright red or orange-yellow fruits are the size of a small peach or apricot and hang in huge grape-like clusters.

The fleshy outer part of the fruit tastes like a chestnut and if you boil it in salt water you will get... delicious dish, rich in vitamins. Sometimes these fruits are fried and eaten with molasses or drizzled with sugar syrup.

In Central and South America, peach palms are planted in huge plantations.

This erect, slender, spiny palm develops several thin stems on which clusters of fruits develop. Needle-like spines are located in whorls and along the trunk.

It produces annually four to six large bunches of fruits, each weighing up to 11 kilogramsm . The fruits are up to 5 centimeters long, red, orange or yellow, with their color reminiscent of ripe peaches, where the English (“peach palm”) and Russian name this tree.

The thorns with which this extraordinary palm tree protects its fruits from animals serve the Indians for inflicting tattoos with which they decorate their bodies. In the Amazon, the peach palm is called peihuara and is one of the most important products in the Indian diet.

A cluster of ripe fruits is difficult for a strong person to lift, and each tree bears several such clusters. About twelve fruits are enough to completely satiate an adult.

The fruits of the peach palm have a mealy pulp and resemble ripe peaches. They are tasty and nutritious, they contain a lot starch, fats, vitamins “A” and “C” . Desserts, drinks and wine are prepared from the fruits and eaten fresh. They are even used to make flour and butter.

The fruits are boiled in salted water, peeled and pitted and eaten with mayonnaise or cheese, or fried. Boiled peach palm fruits are sold as a snack on the streets of Costa Rica.

The core of young palm shoots is also used as food by residents Panama. It tastes similar to celery stalks. This part of the palm is consumed fresh or boiled, mixed with egg and used as a filling for casseroles.

Peach palm leaves are used to feed pigs and chickens. Hollow palm trunks serve as gutters for water drainage, as pipes or flower planters.

These fruits are used in folk medicine for headaches and stomach pains.

In Panama, the fruits of the peach palm provide food for many species. parrots, including those included in "Red Book" and are in danger of extinction.

The fruits of this palm are harvested in Panama from September to December, with the tree producing the richest harvest in October and November.

Up to thirteen clusters of such fruits can grow on one palm tree. The palm tree blooms twice a year. If the soil is moist enough, the peach palm in Panama can produce two harvests per year.

Clusters of fruit become increasingly difficult to obtain as the palm grows in height, so when harvesting, Panamanians use special tools to pluck these clusters and make the fall of these delicate fruits to the ground as soft as possible.

In Costa Rica there are peach palms that are already fifty - one hundred le r. The ripe fruits of this tree are stored fresh for a very short time; they begin to become moldy three to five days after harvest. In stores, these fruits are usually sold already in canned form.

Probably the title of the strangest palm tree on the planet can be awarded to the ginger palm.

(Hyphaene thebaica). At 10 meter ginger palm has branches , most often no more than 3-6, while ordinary palm trees do not form them.

Grows in Upper Egypt doom palm, in other places it is called gingerbread or gingerbread palm . What sets it apart from other palm trees is interesting feature. On a tree 10-12 meters high, 3-6 branches grow. Each of them ends with a bunch of fan-shaped leaves, between which flowers appear: on one tree - female, on the other - male.

On the female branches, the flowers give way to large clusters of beautiful edible shiny yellow-brown fruits. In one bunch there are up to 200 pieces. The ginger palm is an important source of nutrition for the poor in Egypt, who eat the fibrous, powdery husk of the fruit, which tastes like gingerbread.

Fruits of the doum palm enclosed in a smooth shell, round, yellowish or brown, sweet and pleasant, have a bready taste. The thin, dry brown rind is turned into molasses, cakes and candies. Unripe fruits are also edible.

The shoots of the sprouted seeds are also eaten as a vegetable. In Egypt, the fruit is sold by street vendors and is popular with children, who nibble on its sweet-sour, tough, fibrous flesh beneath its shiny, hard skin.

The fresh pulp of these fruits is eaten, but most often the fruits are dried and can be used as a seasoning. A drink is prepared from dried and crushed fruits, which is drunk chilled; it has a unique taste and aroma.

The drink of doom is commonly known as means of preventing prostatitis (Drink 2 glasses of Duma throughout the day). Has antibacterial properties - stabilizes intestinal bacterial balance, improves intestinal function and also facilitates gas removal from the intestines.

Drink of doom stabilizes blood pressure , recommended for patients suffering hypertension.

This palm was considered sacred among the ancient Egyptians and its seeds were found in the tombs of many pharaohs. On September 24, 2007, it was announced that a team of Egyptian archaeologists, led by Zaha Hawass, had discovered eight baskets of doum palm fruits , buried in 3000 BC to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Botanical name: Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) is a representative of the genus Bactris, palm family.

The peach palm is a tall woody plant, reaching up to 30 m. It has a straight, smooth trunk on which thin, flexible stems are formed. The trunk in the upper part, or along its entire length, is covered with rings of long black spines. The leaves are long, large, up to 3.5 m, pinnately compound, lanceolate, dense, dark green, with spiny edges. They are attached to thick, durable petioles studded with spines. The flowers are small, yellowish-white.

On each tree, male and female flowers are formed, collected in brushes and located in the upper part, that is, under the crown itself. The length of the inflorescence is 20–30 cm.

The fruits are formed in clusters, up to 100 pieces in each. Their shape can be different: round, oval, conical, cupped. Fruit length – 6 – 8 cm. Weight – 11 kg. The peel is thin, yellow or orange, less often red. The pulp is juicy, sweet, yellow-orange. Inside there is one large, cone-shaped bone. Externally, the fruits are very similar to peaches, which is why the tree got its name “peach palm.” Its fruiting occurs in 3–4 years. Under favorable conditions, it blooms and bears fruit twice a year. The fruit harvest lasts throughout the fall. The richest harvest is harvested in October.

Spreading

Presumably, the homeland of this plant is Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, where the palm tree has long grown wild. Since ancient times, the tree has been cultivated in its homeland, as well as in neighboring countries with hot climates. Its fruits were first used by Indians for rituals. Today, the peach palm is widespread and economically important in Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, South America, India and the Philippines, from where it is exported to other countries.

Application

The fruits of the peach palm have high nutritional value, since they contain large number fats, starch and vitamins A and C. They are consumed fresh and are also used in the manufacture of desserts, wines and soft drinks. In addition, flour and butter are made from the pulp. The leaves are used to feed the livestock of the local population.

The shelf life of this product is quite short, no more than 4 days, after which the fruit begins to deteriorate and becomes moldy, so it is exported canned.

Peach palm (lat. Bactris gasipaes) – fruit crop, representing the Palm family.

Description

The peach palm is a slender and fairly tall tree, the height of which ranges from twenty to thirty meters. At the top, its mighty trunks (however, sometimes along the entire length) are covered by impressive rings of black, needle-shaped spines, the length of which can reach twelve centimeters. Such thorns make it very difficult to collect fruits.

The leaves of this crop are very long - their length can reach from 2.4 to 3.6 meters. All of them are lanceolate and pinnately complex, boasting a rich dark green color and rather spiny edges. However, the petioles are also densely strewn with numerous spines.

Small yellowish-whitish flowers form inflorescences up to thirty centimeters long. All inflorescences are located directly under the tree crowns, while the same raceme contains both female and male flowers.

The fruits, hanging in clusters of up to a hundred pieces each, can be either red, orange or yellow. And their shape can be conical, cup-shaped or oval. Each fruit has six vaguely defined edges and reaches six centimeters in length. Under the thin skin of the fruit there is a sweet yellowish-orange pulp, and in the center of this pulp there is a single stone of very impressive size.

The peach palm begins to produce a harvest already in the third or fourth year of its life.

Where does it grow

This type of palm is native to the Ecuadorian, Colombian, Peruvian and Brazilian jungles. Since ancient times, the peach palm has been actively grown and no less actively distributed by numerous Indian tribes throughout the Amazon, but this crop received its highest economic importance only in Costa Rica. In the last few decades, this crop began to be grown in some Central American countries - in Panama and Nicaragua, as well as in Honduras and Guatemala. In addition, such a palm can be found in the Antilles, as well as in the northern regions of South America. Back in 1924, the first such plantings appeared in the Philippines, and by 1970 it amazing plant reached India.

In fact, this palm tree is capable of growing in any area characterized by a hot and fairly humid tropical climate. This culture can reproduce both through seeds and vegetatively; it is completely undemanding to soils.

Application

It is not customary to eat fresh peach palm fruits. True, it is fresh fruits that parrots of the most diverse species love, but as the luxurious tropical forests located in the Amazon basin are cut down, the number of these beautiful birds is gradually declining. And before eating, people boil these fruits for two or three hours in salted water, often adding cream or vegetable oil. Before putting them to boil, the skin of each fruit should be slightly cut. And they should be eaten while still warm.

Most often, these fruits are used as a side dish for a wide variety of fatty dishes, or they are simply eaten with various gravies - the fact is that even boiled pulp is always a little dry.

Sometimes the pulp of these fruits is added to baked goods; in addition, a strong and very rich alcoholic drink is obtained from it. And gourmets willingly eat the kernels of the seeds, which taste like coconut.

If the fruits were collected carefully and do not have dents, then they can easily be stored in familiar room conditions for a week.

Soft cores are no less actively used. upper parts trunks - they are eaten raw or various dishes are prepared from them. Quite often they are used for preservation. By the way, the taste of fresh hearts is very similar to the taste of celery stalks.

The wood of such a palm tree is an excellent building material, and local tribes use the leaves to construct roofs for their huts. A decoction is also prepared from the leaves, often used by Indians for headaches or abdominal pain.

Contraindications

Due to individual intolerance, allergic reactions cannot be completely ruled out.