Palm tree - national tree of Cambodia

*A post about national fruit of @MAHBUB_HYDER aboutAn untold :star_struck: and unknown :upside_down_face: story of our National fruits- Jack fruit!*reminds me about national tree of Cambodia. Palm tree became the symbol tree of Cambodia in 2005 by the king’s royal decree. The Khmer Riel note also has palm tree symbol. Palm tree has so much benefits, every part of the tree are usable.

Khmer name: ត្នោត “Tnaot”
English name or common name: Palm tree

Scientific name: Borassus flabellifer

Geography: this tree is native to the Indian subcontinent & Southeast Asia. Countries where they grow includes Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Lao, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Tree characteristic: robust, ubiquitous and domestic plant, grown widely in Cambodia (mostly in Kompong Speu province), up to 30m height.

Fruit: sweet, watery fluid, great aroma

Benefits:

  • Palm leaves: can be used for various purposes such as weaving to be mats, hats, thatching, fans, baskets, umbrellas, walls, decorative objects in religious ceremonies, wrap and pack food, writing material (palm-leaf manuscript), and souvenir things.
  • The stem of the leaves: can be peeled off and be used as rope (before we have nylon and plastics, farmers used them to tie the cows) and also used to weave into cots.
  • Fruits: unripe, the skin is for vegetables and the inner seed is for dessert/snacks, ripe for cake and others, the seed after ripe are edible
  • Trunk/ trees: can be used for constructions and buildings such as making canoes, a boat, a wall, fences, cordage and brushes as well as furniture such as tables, chairs, beds, and decorative ornaments. Some used them as table wears and utensils.
  • Flowers and juice: Flowers of the palm trees can produce so much juice and the sugar from it. There are two types of juice: sweet and sour juice. Sweet juice is the fresh juice that was just taken from the flowers. If you keep for many hours, it will become sour. This sour juice is called “Teuk Thnot Ju / Sour Palm Juice”. It is like a wine, just keep without brewing. There are palm juice wine you can find at the market these days. For sweet juice, you can drink it like sugar cane juice or refine it for sugar palm. Some farmers who run family sugar business can produce up to 5 tons of sugar palm per year (best time to harvest is dry and hot season between Jan to April). This can give them so much incomes and benefits, of course brown sugar is made from palm juice and very beneficial to health (one kilo of sugar palm: 5$-10$). Kompong Speu province has much palm trees in Cambodia for the record, and also produces the #1 Quality of Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar. Prey Veng (my home province) has #2 quality, then Kompong Chhnang and Kompong Cham.

Note: Palm sugar or brown sugar can be eaten 1) raw sugar with dessert and some other fruits and 2) used to cook in all dishes.

Palm sugar can be produced as powder brown sugar and are for export too. You may find brown sugar at the Asian market at your countries.

You can always search for "Palm trees’’ , many articles about it on Google.

41 Likes

Hello @Sophia_Cambodia ,

Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos and all this information with us.

I would like to let you know that I’ve redacted your external links in the post. When you add such a link to a place, the best practice is to use Google Maps URL, rather than other sites as it might be considered as promotion or spam.

Connect is all about originality! For further information, please have a look at the following link.

4 Likes

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia photos are awesome and great . Information is very nice. Its good to have a new knowledge from your post. Thank you so much for sharing it with us dear :blush:

5 Likes
  • @BorrisS Hi Boris, thank you for your comment, understood.*
3 Likes
  • @Rohan10 thanks to my number 1 fellow. I am glad this post added to your knowledge.*
3 Likes

Thanks for sharing the valuable benefits of palm tree @Sophia_Cambodia All the photographs are amazing.

4 Likes
  • @fasi6083 thank you. There are so much to share but as I do not like long text myself, I only briefed significant information. I hope this added to your knowledge.*
3 Likes

@Rohan10 Have you ever eaten palm fruit or drink palm juice before? I love palm juice so much, so sweet, especially when they freeze it.

3 Likes

Yes @Sophia_Cambodia many times… It’s famous. We call it Palm Fruit as “Taad Gola” Palm means Taad. Gola means in round shape like ball. Yes it’s sweet and so much watery. We always enjoy it in our Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Summer. The people who lives in Jungle sells it and we get it so fresh. You might know that wine is also made from Palm fruit. We call it as “Taadi”. It’s available mostly at beaches.

4 Likes

@Sophia_Cambodia new photos are great. I have not heard about Sugar from Palm fruit. Palm fruit photo is tempting :yum:

3 Likes

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia

Thank you for sharing this informative post about Palm trees. It is really a very well written post with some nice photos. A photo of a row of palm trees looks beautiful.

4 Likes

Hi @Sophia_Cambodia

Wow!! Very beautiful and informative and also well written post :star_struck::star_struck::star_struck: :green_heart: :blue_heart:

Yes, your post also reminds me my boyhood , Sometimes I went with my parents to my Grannd father house at village area, where we were running and playing with village children under the palm trees and coconut trees, that was so exciting moments :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :heart_eyes: ! Also happy to know that Plam tree is your National tree. And our national tree is Banyan Tree and the local name is " Bot gach" ot Bot tree…

4 Likes
  • @Rohan10 incredible! In front of Angkor Wat, you can always ask for palm juice to try it. It tastes better in dry season, without rainwater!*
3 Likes
  • @Rohan10 yes, brown sugar or powder brown sugar is made from palm juice. White sugar is made from sugar cane juice. I only use palm sugar and salt in my soup or dishes. I don’t use soup power or msg. It already tastes very good! In the sauce for dessert or in dessert, we normally use brown sugar. It tastes a lot better than white sugar.*
3 Likes
  • @vijayparadkar thank you for the compliment, I am glad you love them and found them knowledgeable. Palm trees sometimes grow themselves when people throw the seeds on the ground. Some people plant them if they want something like those rows! People don’t plant them too close to home as it attracts lightnings in rainy season.*
4 Likes
  • @MAHBUB_HYDER Interesting, since many of Khmer words borrowed from Pali or Sangkrit, it sounds very similar. Banyan tree in Khmer is Por (ពោធិ). About palm tree, I remember more from childhoods are we even pour palm juice in our rice and eat them for breakfast. Sometimes, we mix palm sugar with rice and eat them just like that. Fresh palm sugar smells so very good and taste yummy.*

Got a few trees near my house but the lightning struck them and burned them so dad decided to cut other trees for the family safety.

3 Likes

Wow… Good post, LG @Sophia_Cambodia

Really appreciate your photography TALENTS…

Good Photos and valuable explanations.

Congrats…

PS:

I am sending you a Private Message & kindly reply if you are comfortable.

In case you need help to Send & Receive Private Messages, kindly tag me.

Warm Regards

2 Likes

Hello, my dear friend, @BorrisS ,

Thanks for guiding us all…

After a long break, I am trying to be back with LG Connect - hope, your inspirations will continue.

Thanks for all your supports,

With warm regards

3 Likes
  • @TravellerG that is wonderful news and thank you for visiting my post as well as the compliment. I hope you enjoy reading and add them to your existing knowledge. I at go and read your message.*
2 Likes

Thank you @TravellerG for your kind words.

Welcome back and can’t wait to see your next post.

2 Likes