Foraging Pindo Palm Fruit | The Survival Gardener

[ad_1]

Today I went to get my hair cut so I look spiffy for Scrubfest II.

Afterwards, I was walking to a local coffee shop and saw some small yellow fruit on the sidewalk. Looking up, I spied their origin – a large pindo palm, growing at the edge of a parking lot.

The fruits were scattered about onto the sidewalk, street, and in the landscaping.

pindo fruit on ground - Survival Gardening

I went and got my coffee, drank it, then returned and filled the empty cup with ripe pindo fruit.

pindo fruit in a cup - Survival Gardening

Then I filmed a short video and posted it, so others could see what a pindo palm looks like and know about its delicious edible fruit.

Though, I must say, the fruit really aren’t that delicious right off the tree. They are fibrous and a little astringent, with flavors of coconut and mango – but they become REALLY delicious when you process them into pindo jelly, and that’s what I did this afternoon.

First, I pitted them, simply by smashing the fruit between my fingers and removing as much of the flesh from the pit as possible.

pindo palm seeds - Survival Gardening

Those pits will be planted in the nursery, incidentally, so we can grow many more pindo palms.

Then I put all the fruit into a pot and added a quart of water and a cup of sugar, used a submersible blender to mash it all up, skins and all, then boiled it for a bit.

boiling pindo jam - Survival Gardening

Once it had boiled for ten minutes or so, I strained out the fibrous pulp by pouring the hot mash through a sieve.

stirring sifting pindo jelly - Survival Gardening

It takes some smashing of the pulp to release all the juice. Just mash it with the back of a spoon or fork against the sieve. There are a lot of tough fibers in the fruit which aren’t that palatable. You want to leave most of them in the sieve and not in your jam/jelly.

Once I had my strained, fiber-free half-cooked juice, I put it back on the stove to cook down. I added a teaspoon of salt and then let it cook for about 45 minutes or so, stirring regularly, until it was jam-thick, then poured it in jars.

finished pindo jelly - Survival Gardening

I only foraged about 3-4 cups of fruit so getting a 3/4 pint of jam isn’t bad.

The flavor as jam is tart and sweet, with rich coconut and mango flavors, along with a strong overtone of salted butter. It’s truly amazing.

You can read more about pindo palm here.

And here, on Green Deane’s site.

Share this post!

scrub fest ii ad 1 1170x684 ii - Survival Gardening

[ad_2]

Source link

Get more stuff like this
in your inbox

Don't Be Left Unprepared

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.