Discover the Benefits of Palmyra Trees and Recipes

Palmyra (Borassus flabellifer) is one of the most self-sufficient trees in the world – it asks for nothing. No irrigation, no fertiliser, no tending. It grows on its own along field boundaries and roadsides across the farm and southern India, drawing water from deep in the earth and weathering drought.

Even within organic farming, there is a niche technique called vegan farming. Vegan farming is a technique for boosting soil fertility while using green manuring, crop rotation, mulch – it discourages the use of animal manure. Palmyra is not farmed in the technical sense; but the abundance it provides is not just in the absence of synthetic fertilizers; but also without compost made with animal manure. Palmyra is able to achieve high levels of soil fertility around the trees because of crazy amount of biomass it is able to generate.

Palmyra Sprouts are a low environmental impact produce because the Palmyra fruits mature right before the Tamil monsoon season. The fruits and seeds are quite heavy – so the collection needs quite a bit of energy on our part. But once that is done, it is easy going. It needs no irrigation except at harvest during Pongal and later. It demands no compost or pest control either.

We keep including Palmyra Sprouts flour (it has been boiled before milling) in different ways in our diets. Incorporating it in chapathis and dosais is easy. It has an acquired taste because of bitter after taste, which is common across all Palmyra products. Laddus and urundais are also our favourites because it gives a quick energy boost.

Ingredients

Palmyra Sprouts Flour : 1/2 cup
Roasted Groundnuts : 1/2 cup
Cane Jaggery Powder or Palmyra Jaggery Powder : 1/2 cup
Ghee : 1 – 2 teaspoons
Cardamon : 1 pinch

Recipe

Transfer all ingredients in a mixie and pulse everything until it comes together
Transfer the mix to a large utensil.
Make urundai / laddu with your little ones. Beware : a few might disappear into bellies before you finish!