Harvested from the inner core of certain palm trees, heart of palm is traditional in the cultures of Southeast Asia and South and Central America, pre-dating the 16th century. Rich in fiber, potassium, iron, zinc, vitamins B2, B6, and C, it is vegetable that needs to go through stages of harvesting before eating the center core or heart of palm. After the tree is cut down and the bark is removed, the fibers are removed to reveal the cylindrical center core which may be eaten. This vegetable can be used in many different varieties with health food stores carrying them in cans, but one unique preparation is that to mimic seafood.
With the rise of vegan products globally and the recent trend of faux-meats, faux-seafood is seeing growth, albeit small (plant-based seafood made up only one percent of retail sales of plant-based meat in 2019, according to a recent study by the Good Food Institute). Replicating seafood, versus meat, is more challenging due to the unique texture of fish and the challenge of mimicking flaky, fragile seafood, as well as addressing shelf-life, refrigeration, frozen, etc. Although heart of palm is most notably used raw as an ingredient in a salad or sandwich, due to it being a very good source of dietary fiber, presenting a good ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, being a good source of protein as well as being pretty neutral in flavor, using it as the base of seafood is actually quite intuitive.
The versatile vegetable can be enjoyed raw or cooked and can be used to make a few types of vegan seafood-like dishes including: ceviche, crab cakes, lobster rolls, seafood linguini and more. As raw heart of palm has a chewy but firm texture, it can be easily use by any novice chef to create a flavorful ceviche. By simply cutting up the heart of palm in quarter- to- half-inch sizes, the vegetable can be added to fresh ingredients to create tasty appetizers like a raw mango and heart of palm ceviche with tomatoes and spinach or a spicy ceviche with diced onion, radish, lime juice and hot sauce. For those that want to experiment more with the vegetable in the kitchen, its mild flavor can be used to make dishes look (and sort of) taste ‘fishy’.
To recreate classic crab cakes, slice the heart of palm and mix it with vegan mayo, seasonings (like Old Bay), some diced onion and salt and pepper to taste. Then sprinkle panko crumbs and form into patties before placing on a baking sheet and putting in the oven to bake. If fish sticks are more your cup of tea, combine bread crumbs, paprika and oregano with salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce in a food processor. Form the heart of palm in the length and thickness you desire and then dip them in the coating and heat on a skillet for about a minute or two on each side. To ramp up these ‘fish’ sticks, make a crème with coconut milk, oil, garlic, flour and then seasonings (like basil) to taste. Heart of palm can also be used in pasta dishes and can be seared to replicate scallops or halved to mimic shellfish and then added to your favorite noodle of choice.
After visiting Los Angeles a few years ago and going to Gracias Madre, author Ashley Hankins of Make It Vegan and popular vegan food blog Eat Figs Not Pigs decided to, “play around and experiment with heart of palm at home. Like most home chefs, the more I worked with it, the more comfortable I became cooking with it, and now it’s one of our favorite ingredients to use for special dinners and appetizers.” Hankins goes on to describe that her favorite dish to use heart of palm as a substitute for, is vegan crab stuffed mushrooms. “To make you simply season and cook the heart of palm with similar ingredients you’d use in crab dip (vegan cream cheese, shallots, garlic, etc.), then stuff your mushrooms and bake them.”
This unassuming vegetable may seem bland and a little slimy at first, but it truly can be used to cook many types of dishes. Using a little bit of creativity and a lot of imagination, mixed in with some kitchen tricks and seasonings (a good and easy substitute is salt, pepper, dillweed, garlic powder, paprika and ground ginger), this white vegetable can be the star of your next vegan ‘fish’ dish.
Article by Jarone Ashkenazi