Plant atlas Short
Sugar Palm: The Jelly Seeds Behind Palm Sugar
Sugar Palm (Palmyra) · ตาล · Borassus flabellifer
Sugar Palm (Palmyra) — ตาล (tan) — Borassus flabellifer.
Sugar palm gives us jelly-soft fruit and the sap boiled down into palm sugar. The edible part is the fruit and sap. In diabetic rats, palmyra-palm sprout extract was tested against blood-glucose markers. Khanom Tan is a sweet steamed cake made from ripe sugar palm fruit and coconut milk, traditionally served warm topped with shredded salted coconut. Kaeng Khua Hua Tan is a rich curry with thinly sliced young sugar palm simmered in spiced coconut milk, classically paired with steamed jasmine rice. The jelly-like fruit seeds are eaten fresh, and the sap is boiled into palm sugar or fermented into drinks. The everyday product — palm sugar or toddy — is about 70 to 80% sugar. It's a very slow-growing, long-lived landscape palm. Follow Longevity Biome for a new Thai plant every day.
Khanom Tan — ขนมตาล (kha-nom-tan)
Kaeng Khua Hua Tan — แกงคั่วหัวตาล (gaeng-khua-hua-tan)
Source: Peter S et al. (2023). Antidiabetic effect of Borassus flabellifer extracts in STZ-diabetic rats. Biomed Biotechnol Res J 7(1):72-78. DOI:10.4103/bbrj.bbrj_4_23
Educational content, not medical advice! Consult your doctor before changing diet or medication.
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Research context
Palmyra-palm sprout extract lowered blood glucose in diabetic rats — Biomed Biotechnol Res J, 2023 (animal study)