Fruit From Palm Trees

Fruit from palm trees comes in amazing assorted varieties!

Every palm, at some time or another produces fruits. Palm trees have a stunning variety of fruits! With some that are unique and/or unusual. And some are quite delicious.

No doubt you've heard of the well-known coconut and perhaps the date. Did you know the date is a palm tree fruit?

Even though most people think of palm trees for their connection with tropical climates & unique looks. And not for their fruit.

But we're here to show these you palm fruits. And how versatile they can be. Use our TOC below, or just scroll down to see them all.

Date Palm trees with their fruit - Dates ready for harvest.

Introduction to Fruit from Palm Trees

From sweet & juicy, to tart, tangy, bitter & inedible.

• Think of that favorite of edible fruits: The Coconut!
• Or one that's not well-known for eating, But It's edible!

Fruits from a palm tree can be classified as: the good, the bad & the ugly!!

We'll check for these different types of fruit from palm trees. We'll take you to a selection of the edible, the questionable & the awful/don't eat 'em!

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Actually, all Palms Grow Fruit.

With 2400/+ species of palm trees in the world, there are that many sorts of Fruits From Palms. Some are edible, probably the fruit from palm trees in about 100 species. So you can see most are not edible.

We'll decipher all of that here! 

So, be ready to discover this diverse & sometimes delicious world of palm tree fruit. How About a Date?

Planning that tropical vacay? Your special someone will love this soother. With paradise fruit from palm tree.
CLICK TO SEE IT!

Acai Berries are Called a Superfood!

Have you heard of the acai berry?

And first of all how is acai pronounced?

• Say it: ah-sigh-EE, you emphasize the last part. 
• It's the fruit of the Euterpe oleracea palm.

The fruit from Acai Palm Trees have become one of the most favorable palm tree edible fruits.

Acai berries are actually drupes (About Palm Fruit Drupes). They're popularized as the superfood of palms. They've become popular around the world, with a unique flavor. They're native to the Amazon rainforest, in estuary-type environments.

Besides Tea Infusions (which we love), they're used for acai Smoothie Bowls, Juices, Supplements, nutritional Powders For Mixing, a Sorbet Treat, & Puree for Your Own Creative Dishes. Local people use fruit from the Acai palm in many of their own recipes.

These small, (usually) purple berries ripen yearly. Once picked, they're only good for about 24 hours. They must be dried or flash frozen to survive shipping.

Acai Fruit Benefits From the Açaí Palm

Lately has gotten more popular. There's said to be some healthful benefits from eating acai. There aren't many accredited studies to confirm it.

• They contain antioxidants, which help address cell damage - reason for being called a "Superfood."
• They seem to help with inflammation.
• They have lots of good fiber, potassium & vitamin C. With healthy fats & Phytochemicals.
• But there's no validated proof they help weight loss 😟

We've tried acai a few times. Had a fruit bowl mixture including acai that was quite good. I had been buying organic green tea with blueberry & acai concentrate added in. I love it, & was reordering.

But now it's gone from Amazon! Difficult to find for some reason.

You could Try Out This one - We Recommend It! Even more-so if you're a regular tea drinker. We used to get it on Amazon. No more! If you can find it Let Us Know - we'd like to order it!

For the fruits from palm trees, you can explore many options.

More Edible Palm Tree Fruits

Edible fruit from palm trees are used regularly.

Many areas and cultures Grow Palms for their palm fruit. You may not have heard of many of these palm tree fruits, since they don't ship them elsewhere. They don't last long. No kind of shelf life.

If you visit the area where these palms primarily grow, you may have a chance to taste them. Seeing if you'd like them!

Here are some:

Peach Palm for its Delicious Fruit

Surely sounds like a palm tree with yummy fruit! Is it? 

Bactris gasipaes is found from Central to South America. Fruits are orange, yellow or red. 

• The fruit is locally called Chontaduro. It's a food staple. Often eaten right off the palm.
• They have a potato-like consistency. 
• Growers even developed a seedless version.

Woman Prepares Orange Peach Palm Fruit in Colombia

Vegetable Ivory Palm Fruit

Hyphaene petersiana is native to central areas of Southern Africa. It can grow quickly.

• People like its sweet fruit. After getting rid of the prickly outer shell!

• Other Palm Parts are useful locally.

Vegetable Ivory Palm has some good fruit inside that prickly shell!

Chilean Wine Palm Needed Protection

Jubaea chilensis originated in Chile's savannahs & lower Andes' foothills. Fruits are tiny & round. May be yellow, orange or something in between. 

• It became endangered because the sap's been used for wine production. Palms were cut down for the process. Now they're protected.
• If you have a chance to sample one, drill down to the seed, that's delish! Having a coconutty taste.

Jubaea chilensis Fruit Inner Nut of Chilean Wine Palm Fruit
At Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

The Weird World of the Sea Coconut

AKA Double Coconut. Which are huge! Resembling two coconuts hooked together. Lodoicea maldivida comes from two islands of the Seychelles. 

• They take up to seven years to ripen.
• What's valued is the humungous inner seeds, the largest seed on earth! 

1. With gargantuan legends attached!! So amazing among Strange Palms of the World!

On an Estate, They've Rigged Holders For Protection

So Strange They Put It in a Collection at Museum de Toulouse

Ubussu Palm or Yolillo Palm

Manicaria saccifera fruits become a refreshing, nourishing drink. Or even a cough syrup.

From areas in Central & South America.

• The look is different. With triangular scales & curly spurs. 
• They often drop & roll into nearby flowing waters.
• When they land, sprouting can begin.

Museum de Toulouse Specimen Photo Helps Evaluate Ubussu Fruit's Size

Moriche Palm - The Swamp Dweller

Mauritia flexuosa loves steamy, Amazonia's swamplands.

Hogging up areas where it grows. Its edible palm fruits are regionally popular.

• A typical fruit is three inches, kind-of egg-shaped. With a scaly skin. 
• People eat the dark red, ripened fruits right off the palm tree. 
• Locals make the fruits into flour. Or express the oil for cooking. Or ferment the fruit for a tipsy style drink!

The Edible Fruit of the Moriche Palm

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Close-up Look of Ripe, Moriche Palm Fruits - Looks Delish?

Red Salak Fruit is Highly Favored

Salacca affinis is from the islands of Southeast Asia.

Likes swampy rain forests.

• It has locally eaten, teardrop shaped, red fruits. 
• In Thailand it's called Luk sala, or written in Thai: ลูกสละ. You may hear it called Snake Fruit. 
• Some say it tastes kind of sour. Others think it's like a smoothie with dried bananas & dates mashed with jackfruit.

What Do You Think About Trying Snake Fruit?

Questionably Edible Fruits

Some palm tree fruits aren't popularly eaten by humans.

Even though they're technically edible.

Like the traditionally used Fruit of the California Fan Palm. You could try them out if you'd want. What do you think your reaction would be? Some are eaten, by having an experimental outlook and getting that acquired taste.

But their value is typically useful as animal feed.

The Prickly Macaw Palm Fruit Can Be Imbibed!

Also known as Macaúba. The Acrocomia aculeata has fibrous fruit. Found in Mexico, the Caribbean & areas of South America.

• People have been known to eat the sweet pulp. But they find it more useful for the oil.
• This palm's fruit is primarily given over to feed animals. 
• Stories from Panama tell about making this palm tree's sap into an alcoholic drink that will zap your wild disposition into gear!

Acrocomia aculeata With Still Unripe Grugu Nuts

Fruit of the Canary Island Date Palm

Phoenix canariensis originated on the Canary Islands - think you figured that!

At full growth, this palm tree is massive.

• It produces oval-shaped almost dayglo orange fruit. 
• They're technically okay to eat. But would you want to? Their taste isn't very tasty!

Fruit in Abundance on the Phoenix canariensis Palm

• Another palm part that's there to produce fruit, gives something tasty! Newly grown inflorescences (flower stalks) ooze sap. That's transformed to honey.

Flowering Inflorescences on the Canary Island Date Palm

African Wild Date Palm - An Acquired Taste?

Locals sometimes eat this palm's fruit.

Probably it's an acquired taste! Phoenix reclinata is also called Senegal Date Palm. Growing in Africa, especially on riversides.

• Brownish oval fruits are under one inch long. 
• The inner seeds are ground into flour.

Wild Date Palm Fruits at Skukuza Nursery Kruger NP

Cherry Palm is Natively Endangered

Also called Wine Palm, the Pseudophoenix vinifera is sadly endangered within its original indigenous source, on Hispaniola.

Since this palm has been constantly cut. To use sap for wine production.

• Fruits are distinctive, brilliantly red in a long inflorescence. From 1-2 inches & round. 
• But don't think you'd want a taste - yuk! 

1. Instead they're fed to domestic animals.

Wine Palm Fruit

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Other Fruit from Palm Trees

Palmyra to Betel Nut & More!

Many other varieties are worth looking into. We have a few more examples here.

You May Have Heard About Betel Nut!

Are there health risks to using it?

This palm tree's fruit produces a stimulant. Coming from the Areca Palm (Areca catechu), it's sometimes called the areca nut.

It's used by people specifically for the energy boost it causes. It speeds up the central nervous system because some of its ingredients causing an adrenaline release.

Commonly chewed in areas of Asia, the Pacific Islands & East Africa. Long-term users can be spotted by their purplish tinted teeth.

It can even cause tooth loss & is reportedly a carcinogen.

Still a Few More to Consider

Many other palm fruits have their own unique flavor & possible culinary uses. Varied locally. Some examples are:

• Orange Palm Tree Fruit - From the Butia capitata palm, producing a Jelly Palm Fruit.

• Fan Palm Tree Fruit - Which includes two types of fruits from fan palm trees

1. Washingtonia robusta - The fruit from palm trees of this species can be freshly eaten, or dried.
2. California Fan Palm Fruit - from the Washingtonia filifera palm.

Takeaways for Fruit From Palm Trees

The next time you're looking to try something new & unique, you might think of these fruits. Now after considering the wide variety of fruits from palm trees.