[Sca-cooks] hearts of palm

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Ben voila! Here's your answer from the web
http://www.soupsong.com/fheartso.html

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Hearts of palm are, literally, the heart of the sabal Palmetto, a
tall, tough-barked graceful palm that is the state tree of Florida.
Called "swamp cabbage" by native Floridians, it was long regarded as
poor people's food--and was actively cut down as a source of food
during the Depression, no mean task in the days before chain saws. It
wasn't long, however, before its extreme tenderness and delicacy was
noticed--and its name changed from "swamp cabbage" to "millionaires'
salad." It wasn't long after that, then, that Florida enacted a state
law to protect it from the ravenous gourmets.

Hearts of palm, of course, has flourished for thousands of years
throughout Central and South America. In fact, at the time Columbus
arrived in the new world, the Carib Indians were taking full
advantage of what they called the Pejibaye tree. They housed
themselves with its bark; put a roof over their heads with the
leaves; ate the nuts of the mature tree...and ate the center core of
the young plants.

Today this young tree is grown, harvested, and canned as a cash crop
throughout Central and South America, especially Brazil. It needs 150
inches of rainfall each year to flourish, and cannot endure freezing
weather. It is harvested at the age of 12 months, when the plant is
about 5 feet tall and has an outside perimeter of 4 inches. To read
about and see the process unfold before your eyes, you might visit
http://www.ifrance.com/itenez and select the language of your choice
there.

Hearts of palm have no cholesterol; have excellent fiber content,
hardly any fat content, and are low in calories.

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Anahita