Today, we visited a small palmito (heart of palm) farm on the Carribean side of Costa Rica. Stepping off the bus, I was immediate hit by humidity of the place; something we were spared from by living in the central valley. This was in stark contrast to the coffee plantations we visited earlier in this trip. Coffee requires a specific range of humidity to maximize quality, so the farms took measures, such as planting water absorbing trees, to maintain a certain level of humidity. That is also one reason coffee is grown high in the mountains. Palmito, on the other hand, is grown in extremely humid regions lower in elevation. Another reason for the elevation difference is that coffee prefers the cooler mountains, whereas palmito prefers the tropical heat.

Palmito takes less effort to grow than other tropical crops. Year round, the Carribean side of Costa Rica has a consistently tropical climate, which means palmito can be grown and harvested constantly. Furthermore, the same palmito plant can be harvested repeatedly once every 7 months. The difficulty with cultivation palmito comes from harvesting it. Only a thin, two foot length of a 10 foot tall plant is edible. To reach it, farmers must cut the plant at its base, cut off the fronds, and cut through a tough outer shell to reach the heart of palm, all by hand. It gets easier if the farm plans to export the plant, as farmers don’t cut the shell because it protects the plant during transport and keeps it fresh, but the packaging company/merchant still has to do that.