The palm kernel tree is a very common tree in my area. It is one of the trees many people plant because of the benefits it brings. For those who don’t know it, the palm tree is a special tree that grows fruits. These fruits are small and have two main parts. The outside part is soft and red in color, while the inside part is a hard seed.
(The inner part(hard seed)
(The main seed use for making oil for creams gotten inside the hard seed)..
The soft, fleshy part of the fruit is used to make palm oil. This is the red oil we use every day for cooking of food. The hard seed inside, is what we call the kernel, is also very useful. When the seed is processed, it gives palm kernel oil, which is often used to make body creams, soaps and other items we use on our skin.
Palm trees take a long time to grow and start producing fruits. It is not like maize, groundnut that produces within one year. For example, the tall palm tree you see above was planted when I was still very young. That was more than ten years ago and now it is fully grown and producing fruits.
The medium sized ones have also stayed in the ground for several years. The smaller ones you see are about four years old now. They are still growing and not yet ready to give fruits.
One thing you must know about planting palm kernel trees is that you need a lot of patience. It takes years before they grow big and start producing. But the good thing is that once they begin to produce, they can continue giving fruits for many years. So even though the wait is long, the reward lasts for a long time.
An interesting thing about the palm tree is that it also produces juice aside the oil it produce. This juice is popularly called palm wine in my side. It is a natural drink that many people love taking, almost everywhere around here. Some people even say that doctors recommend it for treating the eyes in small amounts, I don't really know how true that is. But palm wine can be toxic if taken too much. The reason is that it acts like alcohol. If a person drinks too much of it, they can get drunk and start misbehaving. So, even though it is natural, it must be taken in small amounts. The first time I took just a half cup of it, I slept the entire day because my head couldn't hold it.
The palm tree mostly serves two main purposes. You either plant it for the fruits so that you can get palm oil and the seeds for making body creams or you use it for palm wine. But you cannot use one tree for both at the same time. It won’t work because each purpose needs a different way of preparing the tree. The tree has to be shaped or cut in a special way depending on what you want from it. If you want to get palm wine, the tree is cut in a certain manner to bring out the juice. But if it’s for fruit and oil, you allow the tree to grow tall and produce bunches of fruit. This is why farmers have to decide from the beginning what they want to use the tree for.
These trees grow best in hot areas with plenty of rain, like in my country. Farmers like planting them because they don’t only use them at home, but also sell the oil, seeds, or palm wine to make money.
Some people even use parts of the tree for other things. Like the leaves can be used to make brooms which we use to sweep our surrounding, the trunk can be used for firewood and the empty fruit bunches can be used as compost or food for animals. This means almost every part of the palm tree is useful.
A broom from palm kernel leave
One thing that usually amaze me about palm tree is the process that is used in making the palm oil for cooking. That should be a topic for another day...