Hearts of palm
I suppose it would be more expensive if that was the case. Hearts of palm have a mild flavor similar to artichokes and a crunchy texture. I'm not sure if other palms are killed when they harvest the heart or not. I believe they will occasionally harvest them for special occasions and will grow the trees specifically for that purpose. So, it was banned in order to protect the trees. There's definitely a kind of palm in New Zealand where the locals used to consider the heart of the palm to be a delicacy once, but the tree became very rare since you have to cut it down to harvest the vegetable. I know there are some forms of palm heart that it kills the tree to harvest. They are delicious though, so I can see why people are willing to pay for them. They are still pretty expensive though, since it's quite difficult to harvest palm hearts and it requires quite a lot of labor compared to other kinds of vegetables. They are extremely popular in Latin American cuisine, and are exported both fresh and canned to other parts. Hearts of palm are vegetables harvested from the soft core of a palm tree. And there are others, generally commercial species, where they have multiple stems and people are able to harvest part of the plant without killing the whole tree. Heart of palm, also called palm heart, aristocrat's plantar and swamp cabbage, is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees. I believe they are generally fairly fast growing though, so it's not all that much of an issue. July 2, - Well, yes, there are quite a few palms where the tree will die when they harvest the heart. These are delicious and a treat in salads and other presentations and if you want to enjoy them, with no environmental guilt, then buy from a grower who only grows them sustainably. I believe SunPix Hearts of Palm are grown sustainably and harvesting does not kill the plant, as it continues to grow, post harvesting.