Hello! Today we will focus on a fruit that is well
known to the people of Southeast Asia, but completely unknown to people living in Europe.
This rare fruit is called nipa. It is the fruit of the nipa mangrove palm found on the
coasts and estuaries of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm tree considered
to be adapted to the mangrove ecosystem. Unlike most palms, the trunk of the nipa palm
grows underground; only the leaves and stem of the flower grow upward above the surface.
Nipa is widely used in construction, cooking, in particular, in the production of drinks,
vinegar, sugar and salt, as well as in medicine and in the manufacture of various household
items. Fruits are a rare type of fruit, they are mainly eaten raw, used for making refreshing
drinks, fresh and canned desserts. In the absence of an external threat, which
usually comes from people using the plant for their own purposes, the nipa mangrove
palm reproduces perfectly and does not require human assistance in cultivation. Its seeds
are able to germinate, being on the mother stem, and then they are carried by the water
flow and easily strengthened in the soil, increasing the growing area.
Nipa palms grow in soft mud and slowly flowing tidal and river waters that bring in nutrients.
They can be found as far inland as floating nuts can handle. They are common on the coasts
and rivers flowing into the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from India to the Pacific Islands.
The largest areas of mangrove palms are in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The palm tree can withstand occasional short-term drying out of the environment. Despite the
name "mangrove palm", its prevalence in coastal areas with salt water is limited. It is only
moderately salt-resistant and suffers if exposed to clean seawater. She prefers the brackish
waters of river estuaries. It can usually be found in calm estuaries and shallow lagoons
with a constant and large influx of fresh water.
The homeland of nipa is considered to be China, the Hainan region, Bangladesh, India, Sri
Lanka and a number of other countries of Southeast Asia. The ground part of the mangrove palm
has very long and sweeping leaves, often their length reaches 7-9 m. The stem is horizontal
and is almost always located underground. The so-called rhizome, very thick, up to 70
cm in diameter, crawls through the mud, with diagonal scars on the leaves. The vertical
part of the stem is very short. Shoots with long leaves appear along the stem. The massive,
dense underground stem and root system can withstand fast flowing water better than most
other mangrove species. Thanks to this, the underground stem protects the earth from erosion.
With the help of these plants, they strengthen the banks, preventing landslides.
The flowers are a globular inflorescence of female flowers at the top with ear-shaped
red or yellow male flowers on the lower branches. Flowers appear on a long stem about one meter
long in the form of an inflorescence twisted into a spiral. Male and female flowers look
different: the former resemble a long spike, which, when ripe, acquires a golden-yellow
hue, and the latter are similar in shape to a cone and turn into chestnut-brown fruits,
forming spherical clusters up to 25 cm in diameter on one stem
The female flowers, resembling a cone, are densely packed into a spherical head, which
ends the main axis of the inflorescence. Below it there are from seven to nine lateral branches,
which end in a dense spike of male flowers. Male flowers look like a long thorn, and when
ripe are golden yellow with sticky pollen. The inflorescence is covered with layers of
tubular covering leaves that protect the developing flowers from being flooded with brackish water
during high spring tides. The plant is pollinated by Drosophila flies
and small bees from the genus Trigona. Bees may not be very important pollinators as they
only visit male and not female flowers. But fruit flies visit both types of flowers and,
probably, complete their life cycle in the branches of the male inflorescence.
The fruits of the palm are chestnut-brown in color, collected in spherical clusters
with a diameter of 20-25 cm. Ripe nuts separate from the cluster and float away at high tide,
sometimes sprouting while in the water. There is a seed inside each fruit. It begins to
germinate while it is still in the parent bunch. As soon as the fruits fall off, the
sprout already begins to pierce the shell of the fruit.
It is in the stage of immaturity that it is eaten. It is popular with local residents
because this rare fruit can be consumed fresh only in places where it grows.
The seed of the nipa palm is very similar in appearance to a translucent milky candy.
Jelly-like consistency, specific aroma. By the way, the mangrove palm grows not only
in the area of brackish fresh waters, it can also tolerate salty water quite well, and
the level of salt in the reservoir affects the taste of juice and fruits. The fruits
are fibrous and the air cavities in the seed and fruit coat help keep the seeds afloat.
In general, the taste of this rare tropical fruit is sweetish, somewhat similar to the
taste of coconut, but not so sweet and aromatic. In places with salt water, the fruits are
smaller and not as sweet, they are watery, and more transparent in color.
As they mature, the seeds become less transparent, becoming ivory, and harder. As such, they
are not edible and are used to make buttons. Basically, nipa fruits are tree nuts, but
they are classified as fruits. Fruits grow in clusters all year round, but
most of them in the rainy season from late April to November. Locals often sail in small
boats along the canals that cut deep into the mangroves. Hikers wait until midday for
the water to recede to collect fruit. A common tool is a simple sharp knife.
Since pickers need to walk through the swamp, they have to take care of clothing and shoes
to protect themselves from leeches, mosquitoes and thorns. It takes about six months for
the fruits of the nipa palm to become edible. Pickers usually cut one fruit to check if
it has white flesh and if juice is coming out. After that, you can collect the bunch.
In Vietnam, for example, a picker can collect 30 to 50 bunches per day. The collector leaves
the bunches of fruit by the road and continues to collect. Two days later, when a lot of
fruits are collected, transport is rented to transport them home. You don't have to
worry about the bunches, people don't steal here.
The fruit is sold at beverage stores or at stops along the roads. The customer cuts the
fruit, takes out the white pulp, and mixes it with coconut water to create a refreshing
drink. Peeled nipa fruits are also sold, usually at a price of VND 60,000 or US $ 2.60 per
kilogram. The Nipa palm is one of the most commercially
valuable mangrove plants. An interesting fact is that the fruits and juice have a fairly
high sugar content. Thanks to this, the raw materials are used for the preparation of
various drinks. Some growers lease vast areas in the Philippines, where mangrove palms are
grown for the purpose of collecting sap and further producing ninety-five degree alcohol.
Its cost is the lowest, so companies benefit enormously. A continuous harvest from one
plant can take 60-90 days. At the same time, one tree gives about 43 liters, and from one
hectare the yield is 30,000 liters of juice, which after fermentation and distillation
will give 1500 liters. It is noteworthy that from the moment of harvesting the juice, it
is enough to keep the raw materials for 10 hours at a temperature of about 5-6 degrees
to get wine. In the Philippines and Malaysia, the bunch
of flowers (inflorescences) is often used to extract a sweet edible juice from which
a local alcoholic beverage called tuba, bahal or tuak is produced. To increase the amount
of juice secreted during the period of formation of the fruit, they beat on its stem with a
wooden hammer. The idea is to loosen the fibers inside the stem so that the juice starts to
flow out vigorously. This should be done twice a day for two weeks.
The nipa palm tree is unusual in that its stem is cut, and the sap is collected only
after the flower has blossomed. The low palms make sap harvesting relatively easy as the
picker does not have to climb stairs to prepare the flower stem and collect the sap. The bunch
of fruits is ready to use, when the unripe fruit reaches its peak of sweetness, it begins
to taste like a coconut. The bunch is cut from the stem about six inches
or 15 centimeters from where it attaches to the stem. Wood shavings prevent sap from spoiling.
Mud is rubbed into the stem to cause sap flow. If the ripeness of the fruit has been determined
correctly, then the juice begins to flow immediately. The sap is collected twice a day, cutting
off half a centimeter from the end of the stem after each harvest so that it does not
stick together. The sap will flow from the stem for 30 days. And since nipa blooms continuously,
throughout the year, the supply of juice will be continuously replenished. Fermentation
of the juice begins almost immediately after it enters the bamboo tube. There are a lot
of fermentation bacteria in the juice collection tube. Nip palm has 50% more sugar than sugar
cane. After collecting, the juice is placed in a
large container. If left for three days, it becomes a bahal, a slightly sour, alcoholic
vinegar. While it's not really vinegar, it can be seasoned with fresh fish.
After thirty days, the harvested juice becomes a buzz. For flavor, fresh chili, onion, garlic,
ginger and lots of black pepper are added to it. It is watered with everything from
rice to fried fish. Brown sugar is made from nipa palm syrup.
Fermented juice can be made into laxoi, a clear alcoholic beverage. A stainless steel
alembic, shaded by a thatched roof, is set up by the river. The juice is heated to a
boil. The rising steam condenses on the concave metal lid of the distillation cube and then
drips through a tube into a jug underneath. With such a device, it is possible to distill
20 gallons of juice into one gallon of laksoy. The first distillation results in a slightly
cloudy drink. Such varnish is not crystal clear and does not deserve the title of "first
class" until it is re-distilled. These stills are in the public domain, with
an average of twenty families using each of them. To taste the drink, you will have to
pay 10 pesos, or about 25 US cents, for one 375 ml flat bottle of "pocket size".
On the islands of Roti and Sawu in Indonesia, nipa palm juice is fed to pigs during the
dry season. This is said to give the meat a sweet taste. Young
shoots are also edible; flower petals can be infused to prepare a fragrant broth.
Nipa palms are famous not only for their fruits and juice, but also for their leaves. Palm
leaves can be used for roofing freshly harvested. To
make a long-lasting roof, the leaves are dried,
folded onto a rod, and stitched together to form shingles. This tile is used for both
roofing and wall cladding of houses. She can last 5 years or more. The leaves are also
used to make umbrellas, sun hats, raincoats, baskets, mats and bags. Young leaves are used
to make cigarette wrappers. In Russia, rare fruits harvested from the
nipa palm tree appear on sale in canned form. Their taste is unusual, but very sweet, as
they are cooked in sugar syrup. Such a delicacy may well become an independent dish or an
addition to various fruit desserts and pastries. If desired, they can even be added to compotes
and sauces, giving the dishes a touch of exoticism. Nipa fruits are characterized by
a high ability to provide the body with energy, but at the same time, the fat content is negligible.