PALM CHESTNUT

edible nut of the peach palm (Bactris gasipaes, or in some classifications Guilielma gasipaes), family Arecaceae (Palmae), that is grown extensively from Central America as far south as Ecuador. The typical 18-metre (60-foot) mature peach palm bears up to five clusters of 50 to 80 orange-yellow fruits, each of which is 57.5 cm (23 inches) in diameter. The fruit keeps well on the tree and after it is harvested. Its somewhat dry and mealy flesh, which can be easily separated from the seed after boiling in salted water, is fermented into a beverage. The 2-centimetre seed, or nut, is conical with a black, thin, hard shell. The flavour of the white inner kernel resembles that of the coconut. The plentiful oil from the seeds is used locally in cooking. The hard wood of the tree is used as a building material and in bow making.