A. The heart of palm is eatable and is usually defined as a vegetable harvested from inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees. It is usually harvested from the top of young palm trees. It can be cooked or eaten raw, sometime people call it swamp cabbage strew. Though they resemble white asparagus, the flavor is more delicate. Because of its nutritious value, it has become more available, usually eaten as a salad or added to it. Currently the most popular palm trees for hearts of palm are Palmitos and Peach Palms. These palm trees reach a height of about 9 feet in 12 months. When the tree reaches this stage, the center stem is cut and the top half of the trunk and the leaves are discarded. The remainder of the trunk is peeled, leaving about a 30-inch long heart. Due to concerns about deforestation, mature trees are not harvested; rather, they plant new trees specifically to harvest the heart. After the center stem is cut, another stem will take over and become a center stem, regenerating the trunk and leaves. This process can repeat about ten times before the tree can no longer regrow. (Wikipedia, Kosher Spirit and others)
Contemporary Poskim disagree as to what brocho should be recited on it. Vezos Habracha rules that the brocho should be Hoadama. Halacha Yomis from the OU mentions that "HoRav Belsky, zt”l ruled that the bracha for hearts of palm is Borei Pri Ha’adama. The Gemara (Berachos 36a) cites a disagreement between Rav Yehuda and Shmuel as to which bracha should be recited on kora or koireh (interpreted in the Artscroll Talmud and others as “palm shoots” or hearts of palm). According to Rav Yehuda the bracha is Ha’adama and according to Shmuel, it is Shehakol. The Gemara concludes that since one does not plant a palm tree having in mind to harvest the hearts of palm, the halacha follows the opinion of Shmuel that the bracha is Shehakol. Rav Belsky explained that today, since palm trees are planted with the intent of eating the hearts, the appropriate bracha is Ha’adama. Although hearts of palm grow on a tree, the bracha is not Ha’eitz, but rather Ha’adama. This is because hearts of palm are not an actual fruit, but the core of the stem of the tree. Since they are part of the actual tree and not fruit, the bracha is downgraded from Ha’eitz to Ha’odama"
Star K Kashrus Kurrents (2011) writes; "The variety of palm tree which is most widely used for canning hearts of palm is the peach palm. Although the peach palm does produce an edible fruit, the peach palms which are used in commercial heart of palm production are specifically planted for the hearts and not for the fruit. For this reason, Rabbi Heinemann, shlit”a, paskens that the hearts should be considered the primary fruit of the peach palm, and the brocha on hearts of palm is Ha’eitz.
Shulchanaruchharav.com asserts that: "The blessing that is to be recited on the heart of the palm is Shehako.l [However, this only applies towards the heart of a wild palm tree, or the heart of a palm tree that was planted for the purpose of harvesting its dates.However, palms that are planted for the sake of harvesting their hearts, receive the blessing of Hadama."
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is similar.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised in the name of Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a.
Important Numbers
