More Discussions for this daf
1. Chizkiyahu's misdeeds 2. Why are fallen dates called Muktzeh? 3. Palm tree grafting
4. Anshei Yericho - Korchim Shema 5. Heart of Palm 6. Chizkiyahu and Ibur ha'Chodesh
7. Pe'ah and also Barley Flour 8. Shema Yisrael by the Shevatim
DAF DISCUSSIONS - PESACHIM 56

Avrohom Hirsch asks:

The Gemara here refers to the heart of a palm. What exactly is the heart of a palm tree?

Thanks,

Avrohom Hirsch

The Kollel replies:

(a) The Kollel wrote the following in our Background to the Daf:

>> V'SHADU LEHU L'DIKLA B'LIBEI - and they pour them (the mixture) into the heart (the sap-wood, located in the center of the trunk) of the palm tree (this concoction serves as a vitalizing agent)<<

(b) FYI, there actually is a part of the palm tree known as heart of palm. I copied below what Wikipedia has to say about it. I'm not sure whether this is what the Gemara here refers to, though.

-Mordecai

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Heart of palm (From Wikipedia)

Heart of palm, also called palm heart, aristocrat's plantar, chonta, palm cabbage or swamp cabbage, is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees(notably the coconut (Cocos nucifera), Palmito Ju?a (Euterpe edulis), A? palm (Euterpe oleracea), sabal (Sabal spp.) and pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes) palms). Harvesting of many non-cultivated or wild single-stemmed palms results in palm tree death (e.g. Geonoma edulis).[1] However, other palm species are clonal or multi-stemmed plants (e.g. Prestoea acuminata, Euterpe oleracea) and moderate harvesting will not kill the entire clonal palm. Heart of palm may be eaten on its own, and often it is eaten in a salad.

An alternative to wild heart of palm are palm varieties which have undergone a process of adaptation to become a domesticated farm species. The main variety that has been domesticated is the botanical species Bactris gasipaes, known in Ecuador as chontaduro, in Costa Rica as palmito, and in English as the peach palm.[2] This variety is the most widely used for canning. Peach palms are self-suckering and produce multiple stems,[3] up to 40 on one plant, so harvesting several stems from a plant is not so expensive because the plant can live on. Another advantage it has over other palms is that it has been selectively bred to eliminate the vicious thorns of its wild cousins. Since harvesting is still a labor intensive task, palm hearts are regarded as a delicacy.

As of 2008, Costa Rica is the primary source of fresh palm hearts in the US. Peach palm is also cultivated in Hawaii,[3] and now has limited distribution on the mainland, primarily to the restaurant trade. Florida's wild Sabal palmetto or cabbage palm was once a source of hearts of palm but is now protected by conservation law.[2]

Brazil was the highest producer of uncultivated hearts of palm, but in the 1990s its quality went down - mostly because of unsustainable poaching for stems (called colete, Portuguese for "vest") of the main producing species, Euterpe edulis - which is now considered as threatened with extinction in the wild.[4] This left the market open for Ecuador to export its cultivated hearts of palm. Ecuador is now one of the main producers of hearts of palm. France is the largest importer of hearts of palm.[5]

When harvesting the cultivated young palm, the tree is cut down and the bark is removed leaving layers of white fibers around the center core. During processing the fibers are removed leaving the center core or heart of palm. The center core is attached to a slightly more fibrous cylindrical base with a larger diameter. The entire cylindrical center core and the attached base are edible. The center core is considered more of a delicacy because of its lower fiber content.