Vegan Magazine - How to Use Heart of Palm to Mimic Seafood
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.