I have always been fascinated by palm trees of every kind but the Palmyra palm in particular holds a special place for me, since its fruit is one of my favorites, donning different avatars in its various stages of life, right from the tender to the overripe and also in between.

I have also written about the tender palmyra fruit and ripe palmyra fruit earlier in my blog but today I am here to present yet another facet of this amazing tree.

When the palm seed germinates, the ensuing sprout presents yet another option for consumption and these unusual looking woody, elongated, edible tubers are pleasantly mealy in texture and also rich in nutritive properties.

Also known as Panang kizhangu in Tamil, these sprouts are sold in ‘sheaves’ and can be cooked and eaten in many ways but today I will only be demonstrating the method that I have used. Please note that many a time they are sold pre-boiled and ready to eat but I feel that it is more hygienic to buy the raw ones and cook them at home.

Do let me know in the comments below, what you call these sprouts in your language.

Ignore the Sweet potatoes in the background 😀

Don’t ignore my 2 boys in the background 😀

The Borassus Flabellifer –

The Borassus Flabellifer palm is also known as Sugar palm, Toddy palm, Ice apple etc and across India, it is known by several regional names like taal, tadgola, irwol, nongu, thaatnongu, pananungu etc.

The leaves are fan shaped and grow in a circular cluster atop a tall narrow trunk. Likewise the fruits too grow in bunches and are round like cannon balls. Greenish when immature, they eventually grow into a diameter of around 5 – 6 inches with the outer skin turning black and leathery. On an average, each fruit has 3 seeds inside, though there are some with 2 and even 4 at times.

The tender seed is lightly gelatinous in texture and filled with sweetish sap inside and is quite addictive for those who are fans of it. I am a BIG fan!

If the fruit is not harvested when tender and it is left to ripen on the tree, it eventually matures. This results in the tender mesocarp turning into a fibrous mass coated in a thick, golden yellow, ripe mango like pulp (apparently there is a semi-ripe stage too, with its own distinct taste and texture but I have yet to experience that. Please comment below if you know about it).

Also when the fruit turns ripe, the once tender seeds now turn hard like rocks and have the potential to eventually germinate into the sprouts of new palms.  These are the sprouts that we will be seeing here today.

You can also go through these blogs of mine on the Tender Palmyra fruit and the Mature palmyra fruit.

Sprouting your own palm – 

A few years ago I experienced the pleasure of receiving a ripe palmyra fruit, squishing out its golden pulp and also attempting to sprout the seed by burying it in a pot. Neither the pot nor the soil were conducive to germination, so along with the seed, I literally buried all hopes of ever seeing any action here. But to my surprise, several months later, I saw that a tiny rope like sprout had emerged.

Wanting to dissect the seed and get my hands on the fleshy edible kernel inside (yes even that is edible), I discovered the ‘hard’ way that this seed was harder than a rock. Well some hard-core drilling (pun intended) with an actual electric drill 😁and some hammering, with the enlisting of my husband of course … and we managed to get at the insides, which sadly seemed to have rotted in the process of hibernation.

However, I felt that it was an adventure worth undertaking and learning from, though for all future experiments, I would choose to buy the easily available sprouts rather than attempt to grow them!

How to pick good sprouts –

Buy sprouts that are plump, firm and fleshy and not withered, pitted and sunken (mine below, seem a bit withered).

Method of cooking –

Wash the sprouts thoroughly under running water and then also soak for a while to get rid of all the dirt. Chop off a bit of the base and also the top portion where the fleshy part starts turning woody.

Boil in a wide vessel for 20-30 min or until done or pressure cook on a low flame for 10 minutes after the first whistle. If a knife pierced through the flesh moves in and out easily, then it indicates that the sprout is cooked.

Once cooled, peel them like a banana and also remove any papery inner skin. Chop into finger sized pieces, making sure to remove as much fiber as possible in the process.

You can then directly chew these sticks but be sure to ingest only the flesh and discard the fibrous network just as you would do with drumsticks. These chopped sticks stayed well in my fridge for nearly a week. They are likely to get spoiled (fungus growth) after that.

Take a look at the video for better understanding –

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There are many more dishes you can make with these but I have not tried them.

Do let me know in the comments below, what you call these sprouts in your language and how you use them in your homes.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Do let me know in the comments below if there is any specific ingredient or rare fruit or vegetable that you want me to write about in future.

For more pictures see My Facebook – Palm Sprouts (coming soon)

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Nov 2oth, 2025