Content
- The fruits of hemp palm are edible
- Only adult hemp palms bear fruit
- Female and male hemp palms necessary
- This is how the edible hemp palm fruits taste
- Tips
The fruits of the hemp palm can be eaten
The fruits of hemp palm are edible
Hemp palms produce fruits in nature that are edible and even taste quite good. To develop fruits, however, the hemp palm must already be grown because young palms do not bloom. When cultivating the fan palms in our latitudes, only rarely will fruits develop that you can harvest.
Only adult hemp palms bear fruit
For a hemp palm to bear fruit, it must first flower once and the flowers must be pollinated. However, a hemp palm only blooms when it is already several years old and thus grown up.
If you maintain a hemp palm exclusively in the room, it will only rarely bloom. You have a little more luck if you pull the hardy hemp palm tree outdoors all year round.
Female and male hemp palms necessary
In order for the flowers of a hemp palm to be fertilized, you need at least a female and a male plant. Hemp palms are dioecious. Which gender your hemp palm has, you recognize the flowers. They are different in color. For laymen, it is not easy to determine gender.
The pollination is taken in the best case by insects. Often, however, you have to take care of the fertilization yourself. To do this, first stroke the male and then the female flowers with a brush.
This is how the edible hemp palm fruits taste
Hemp palm fruits taste quite sweet and are completely fleshy if you harvest them fresh from the tree and consume them. First, they have a green color, which turns dark purple at maturity. Its shape is slightly rounded and resembles a kidney. The shell of the fresh fruit is still thin and easily removed.
However, they are very small and have a large core, so it is not worth cultivating hemp palm trees just because of the edible fruits.
The average size of a fruit is 13 millimeters long and 9 millimeters high and wide. The kernel is only marginally smaller, so that little flesh is left over for eating.
Tips
If you are lucky enough to see your hemp palm bear fruit, you can use it to grow new hemp palm trees. In the fruits, seeds develop which you can sow.