There seem to be countless varieties of palm trees in the jungle. We have several coconut palms in our yard and have also added an unusual looking “traveler palm” – photos to come as it grows. One palm that has caught our interest over the past 6 months is a 65 foot tall, very straight, very skinny tree that is just on the other side of our property line. Right under the palm fronds there appeared to be a circle of “frisbee” looking discs with clusters of some type of berry or fruit under them – definitely not coconuts. Well, yesterday its secret was revealed! We noticed the next-door neighbor precariously perched in a tree next to the palm with a home made harvesting stick that had to be a good 40 feet long. He hung onto the branches of his perch while skillfully manipulating the “stick” to knock the fruits off the palm. A short while later he showed up at our gate with a bag full of the “goodies.” They are called “peach palms.” They are easy to prepare – simply boil and open, then scoop out the flesh. The taste reminds me of a sweet potato. The locals recommend you eat them with mayonnaise – surprisingly they recommend eating many things – including tacos – with mayonnaise.
