Bo Fruit

[NatureGirl]

A friend brought this big Borassus fruit up and gave it too me ystdy. It’s the first time his Borassus has fruited. It’s a Borassus aethiopum x B.  flabellifer  hybrid. I think the parent trees could be hybrids too. Can’t wait to plant it, probably contains two seeds.

[Funkthulhu]

Today I learned. . .   

Amazing fruit?

What's it taste like?

[NatureGirl]

I don’t know about taste, but it smells good! 

[Palmarum]

Just now, NatureGirl said:

I don’t know about taste, but it smells good! 

The flavor of the fruit is... unique. It is kind-of hard to describe but it was good. I can see why elephants eat them in habitat.

We tried it once during a tour at Fairchild when the Borassus duo along the tram trail had fruit. They had a lot of it too. The female dropped enough to make a tall pile. No one wanted to clean it all, so we were thinking of finding an elephant to eat the fruit and 'process' the seed. Someone contacted Zoo Miami (Miami Metro Zoo back then) but I never heard how far the plan got.

It's always fun to dig into an unexpected & gifted palm fruit. If it is really big and round, it may have three seeds in it. Have fun and don't cut yourself (I still have the scar from my attempt).

Ryan

[Reyes Vargas]

Wow I never knew they got that big. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Very cool.

[Fusca]

This canned Borassus fruit in light syrup was excellent!  Tasted somewhat like canned pears.

[Valhallalla]

4 hours ago, Palmarum said:

The flavor of the fruit is... unique. It is kind-of hard to describe but it was good. I can see why elephants eat them in habitat.

We tried it once during a tour at Fairchild when the Borassus duo along the tram trail had fruit. They had a lot of it too. The female dropped enough to make a tall pile. No one wanted to clean it all, so we were thinking of finding an elephant to eat the fruit and 'process' the seed. Someone contacted Zoo Miami (Miami Metro Zoo back then) but I never heard how far the plan got.

It's always fun to dig into an unexpected & gifted palm fruit. If it is really big and round, it may have three seeds in it. Have fun and don't cut yourself (I still have the scar from my attempt).

Ryan

I have never tasted the fruit but I have many times smelled the aroma of rotting fruit beneath the Borassus duo (love that name BTW) at Fairchild. I'll never forget the sight of these legendary giants being propped back up by a huge crane and crew sent down from Disney a week after Hurricane Andrew had toppled them. Amazing scene to witness.

Zoo Miami has their own group of Borassus along with many other less common and interesting palms. I'm not sure of the species. The zoo also has their own processing concerns regarding elephants. If you back your truck up there they will gladly fill it with as much 'processed matter' as you can cart away.

[aztropic]

Lots of rare palms throughout zoo Miami. Copernicias and Pseudophoenix kept catching my eyes!

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Moose]

The smell of the fruit drives the elephants crazy, it's their favorite things to eat. The Borassus at Zoo Miami are about 30 years old now. Curious if they are fruiting yet?