Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 7, 2008 at 9:47 AM:Good morning Jean-Jacques!
Another article that makes me want to pack my suitcase!
You mentioned the fresh palm cabbage. We know about coconuts and palm oil.
Is there any other edible products that the palms produce?
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 7, 2008 at 10:10 AM:
Hi Gloria (good afternoon here, it is 6pm)
There are many edible things from palm trees, sugar, fermented beverages (from beer to hard booze) but I know little on the subject. So far the most edible part I ever tasted was the cabbage, either from our two endemic edible species of from coconut tree, this one is lesser often offered as coconuts take much longer to grow and are not (here anyway) as available but the cabbage as a nice coco flavor.
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 7, 2008 at 10:21 AM:
Wow. Kids would like that!
I bet it has a lot of super nutrients in it, too.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 8, 2008 at 9:01 AM:
Well, not only kids I tell you! I do not know what it contains but certainly only good stuff, all coconut trees are organic here...
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 8, 2008 at 2:40 PM:
You live in another world Jean-Jacques. Organic is hard to find in rural Alabama.
And we don't have any coconuts.
We have these though. Huge green inedible fruits!
They are called "Hedge apple" or "Osage Orange".
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 8, 2008 at 2:43 PM:
Here is a photo of the fruit.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 8, 2008 at 11:37 PM:
I do believe you, there is a hell of a gap between Reunion and Alabama...
I know this osage tree, there was one in a wood close to Paris where I lived and I was very intrigued, I later discovered what it was and that Indians used to make bows with the wood.
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 9, 2008 at 8:04 AM:
Yes. The wood is red and very dense. They use it for bows, and around here there are wood carvers who make it into old fashioned bowls - bread bowls for raising bread.
It gets a lot of cracks though so you have to fill the gaps with epoxy-sawdust. I don't know how healthy that is.
There were used as hedgerows here back in the 1830s. I have them along my driveway which is the property line with the neighbor. The only disadvantage is that at 150 years they get heavy and fall over - usually in my direction! They have 1/1/2 inch thorns that flatten tires.
They have a lot of personality for a tree!
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 9, 2008 at 8:41 AM:
Hum, they don't really sound like the kind of tree I would happily be frolicking in!
The topic of tree personality could trigger a pretty nice thread I believe.
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 9, 2008 at 2:53 PM:
For frolicking it would not be good. The thorns are 1/1/2 inches long and readily pierce clothing and tires.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 9, 2008 at 11:40 PM:
Wooh, so a thornproof suit is needed on top of the climbing gear...
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 10, 2008 at 8:00 AM:
I have to trim some now that have grown branches out over the driveway. Im not sure what to wear. Maybe some leather gauntlets up the arms.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 10, 2008 at 10:49 AM:
I would suggest the iron armour middle-aged style with reinforcment made of used up truck tires, this should do the trick and use a saw with a long extension handle just in case;)). I sometimes have to prune bougainvillea and learnt to be extremely cautious with those thorns, they can ruin the whole day and even leave memories for a long time, beware!
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 10, 2008 at 10:53 AM:
The extension saw may be what I need. I was trying to figure out how to get in there with my chain saw. Ill give that a try!
Thanks for the tips from an expert!
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 10, 2008 at 12:34 PM:
Actually I use several 'extended' tools which are fantastic; a telescopic pruner on which a hand-saw can be adapted, a bag with a metal blade to harvest big fruits like avocadoes and mangoes and the last one is a 'cueille-fleur' or flower picker, a telescopic tool ending with a small pruner which will cut and hold things with the aid of two plastic jaws, this one is fantastic, you can reach flowers or (for me!) dry fruits for seeds very precisely and they will not fall and end in the wrong place...Some people here who do not like to climb trees also use extended chainsaw, they are good but only for small branches because of the size of the engine and saw.
Being called an expert feels always so nice even if you are not a real one;))
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 10, 2008 at 4:32 PM:
oh. when i saw the article on tree climbing - you were the Expert!
I do have the extended pruner so Ill see if that will cut the limbs. The wood is pretty hard, but the most cutt-able when it is green.
We do have an instrument called a "pecan picker". It has a long handle and a wire basket shaped end about the size of a 1 litre bottle. You just twist a little and you can get figs with it. Or pears. It picks pecans up off the ground so you don't have to bend over.
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 11, 2008 at 8:23 AM:
Clever tool than your pecan picker, sure is handy for out of reach fruits but bending is good to keep your waist supple!
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 11, 2008 at 9:50 AM:
I can tell that by looking at your waist, Jean-Jaques!
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Posted by jjacques (from LE TAMPON
(Reunion (French))) on September 11, 2008 at 1:12 PM:
;))
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Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on September 11, 2008 at 1:53 PM:
Ha Ha.
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Palm trees number some 2700 species worldwide and are often enjoyed for the delicacy of their leaves, the palms. Many are also grown for food, and the apex (also known as palm heart) of several species is edible. But the best known and most widely eaten is the fruit of Coco nucifera, the coconut tree, used either out of hand after breaking the wooden shell or grating it and extracting the milk. Commercial coconuts orchards also produce copra, which will be turned into oil. We could rave on for a long time about the numerous uses of coconut trees but though it is found on the shores of all island of the archipelago we will here concentrate more on species particular to the area.
is the ‘palmiste blanc' or ‘princess palm', ‘hurricane palm'. This one will reach twenty meters high and though having a rather thin trunk about sixteen cm in diameter it will nonetheless withstand cyclones hence its colloquial name, it is endemic to all three islands but again not found in the wild as the heart is appreciated. As it is also quite handsome and void of spines it is also used as ornamental. 
It will grow to twelve meters and displays larges leaves are palmate and reddish when young while the petioles are bright red. It is a dioecious which means that there are male trees and female trees, the later bear cluster of spherical fruits the size of a small apple, bright green, with an edible though tasteless flesh. The seeds are rather big and when old the albumen becomes very hard and has the colour and aspect of ivory, it can therefore be used for jewellery or other workmanship. There are tow other species of Latania on the archipelago, 
