Palm fruit juice facts for kids
Palm fruit juice, also known as Tal er Rosh (which means তালের রস in Bengali), is a sweet liquid. It comes from the fruit of palm trees during the summer. This juice is packed with good stuff like Vitamin A, B vitamins, and Vitamin C. It also has important minerals such as zinc, calcium, potassium, and iron. Plus, it contains antioxidants, which are good for your body.
Palm fruit juice is a very popular and special food in the Bengal region, especially when it's hot outside. Many delicious Bengali foods are made using this juice. Some examples include palm candy, pitha (a type of cake or pastry), pays (a sweet pudding), kheer (another type of pudding), and Taller bora (তালের বড়া), which are tasty fritters.
About Palm Trees and Their Juice
Only female palm trees grow fruits. A palm tree usually starts giving fruit when it is about 12 to 13 years old. The juice or pulp from palm fruits can taste two main ways: bitter or sweet. The taste often depends on the type of soil and the weather where the tree grows. Most traditional foods use the sweet palm juice.
How to Get the Sweet Palm Pulp
People often eat the seeds of young, unripe palm fruits. But ripe palm fruits are also used in many different ways. If the ripe palm fruit is sweet, people extract its pulp to use in food. First, the skin of the fruit is carefully removed. Then, the whole fruit is de-seeded, meaning the seeds are taken out.
The juice is then squeezed out from each de-seeded part. This can be done by hand or using machines. Once the juice is extracted, it is collected in a container. This juice is then ready to be used for making various delicious dishes.
Popular Foods Made with Palm Juice
People in Bengal enjoy eating the whole palm fruit, whether it's ripe or unripe. However, Bengali people also create many different dishes using the pulp or juice from ripe palm fruit. These are some of the popular foods you can find:
- Taller bora (তালের বড়া) - These are like sweet fritters.
- Pitha - Various types of sweet cakes or pastries.
- Taller kheer - A sweet pudding made with palm juice.
- Palm candy - A natural sweetener.
- Pays (পায়েস) - Another kind of sweet pudding.
- Powder - Palm juice can be dried into a powder.
- Cake - Sweet cakes flavored with palm.
- Jam - A sweet spread for bread.
- Jaggery - A type of unrefined sugar.
- Jelly - A clear, sweet fruit spread.
