

Peach palm
Scientific name - Bactris gasipaes
Bactris gasipes come under the family of sea island palms .like most other palms they grow erect and are restricted to warm climatic conditions. These kinds of trees generally consist of a single slender stem or several stems not more than a number of 8 .The thickness of these trees are 20 cm. They grow together as a cluster. They are enclosed with stiff, black spines all over their trunk from the base to the top of the tree. There is an exception in which sometimes there is lesser number of spines. The average length of the tree is measured to be 20 meters which is 66 feet but it can be taller too. Their leaves are pinnate which are similar to a feather with a frond of a fern. Coming to the fruit it comes under the classification of drupe which has a outer fleshy part which surrounds a seed with it, it has a length of 4-6 cm and a breadth of 3-5 centi -meters.the peel of the fruit may be of red, yellow or orange color after it ripenes ,these colors also depends on the type of palm family it belongs to.

Nutritional Value of Peach palm
The fruit is very nutritious containing an amount of 196 calories which is divided by the H2O, protein, fat content ,the carbohydrate , fiber content and a very less amount of ash which is just 0.8 gram, content since it grows under tropical climatic conditions. The energy content in the fruit is very high topping to be 196 kilo calories or 816 kilo joules, this proves the fruit to be highly nutritious with a level of energy content. The fruit contains no cholesterol at all .
The vitamin content of the fruit are vitamin c, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12.
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
---|---|
Calories | 196 |
H2O | 50.5 g |
Protein | 2.6 g |
Fat | 4.4 g |
Total Carbohydrate | 41.7 g |
Fiber | 1.0 g |
Ash | 0.8 g |
Ca | 14 mg |
P | 46 mg |
Fe | 1.0 mg |
Thiamine | 0.05 mg |
Riboflavin | 0.16 mg |
Niacin | 1.4 mg |
Energy | 196 kcal/816kj |
Saturated fat | 0.700 g |
Potassium | 264 mg |
Sodium | 3.00 mg |
Magnesium | (3%) 11 mg |
Magnesium | 163 mg |
Zinc | 1.40 mg |
Vitamin C | 35.0 mg |
Vitamin E | 2.40 mg |
Vitamin A | 201ug ER |
Vitamin B1 | 0.050 mg |
Vitamin B2 | 0.160 mg |
Vitamin B6 | 0.300 mg |
Vitamin B12 | none |
Folate | 28.0 ug |

Palm fruit must not take raw in any case. Unless cooked it is not preferred to be eaten. The method for cleaning and cooking the fruit is as follows, first of all the fruit is boiled in salted water followed by that it is peeled and the seed is removed. The fruit produces flour and edible oil it can be also used as animal feed.

Peach palm has many health benefits such as strengthening our immune system, optimizing our blood pressure, speed up the growth and also for weight loss. It helps us to prevent the problems regarding intestine thus keeping problems such as gastric ulcers away. Due to its high fiber content keeps us ways from diabetes too.

The cultivation process begins with seed beds which are closed by plastic bags, the seed’s moisture content must be 40 percent with a germination rate of 75 percent and with 90 to 100 percent plastic bags easily germination takes place at an ambient temperature of 24 to 25 degree celsius. The harvest finally depends upon the size of the seedlings and soil fertility.


