I bought my first house in January. It’s in Florida, and there is a palm tree on my property line. Tonight I found several marble-sized fruits on my lawn, and vaguely recall finding them in my youth when I also resided in Florida.
When I was a child, my mother didn’t let me eat them. However, my neighbor told me tonight that the fruits were simply fresh dates.
Is palm tree fruit edible? I have ten in my kitchen and have wanted to try them for nearly 15 years!
There are lots of different palm tree fruits. Edible ones would include coconuts, and dates. Inedible would include ivory nuts. The fruit of the oil palm would rank as partially edible (you can extract edible oil from it, but the residual pulp would not be very palatable).
Oh noes! I had no idea of my palm tree ignorance! Um, these things are persimmon orange and the size of a shooter marble. They smell very nice, but I am a-scared of them.
My ignorance, while not defeated, has been considerably smacked around 
Thank you, Tamerlane. They look like Jelly Palm fruit. After a bit more research, I just may bite one.
If i do, I will tell you how delicious (or not) it is!
After some brief research, I decided that it was safe to bite a mystery palm fruit.
If it kills me, at least you can know that I tasted the most wonderful thing I have yet to taste.
It tastes like: mango, overripe peaches, sour plum, and new-mown hay.
The most amazing thing I have yet to experience in the fruit department.
If I’m not dead tomorrow, I am going to eat a few more!
:eek:
Surely you’ve got fresher ones than that!
giggles gods am I easily amused. giggles some more
I’m still alive. So far the only side-effect of eating mystery fruit seems to be that I am willing to eat pan-fried (in butter) pecan pie.
Those fruits really are yummy, though!
***I’mc not quite dead! ** *
However, I’m still craving more mystery palm fruits and a huge, buttery, fried slice of pecan pie.
gabriela, where are you when we need you?!
I don’t think these fruits are likely to be poisonous; IANABotanist, but I’m not aware of any palms (certainly not any commonly-planted ones) that have poisonous fruits. Most of the ‘inedible’ ones are inedible because they’re just too woody, fibrous, dry or tasteless.
Ahhh… but… a little research suggests that some palm fruits contain calcium oxalate; this can be harmful - they can cause irritation of the mouth and digestive tract, and in higher doses, poisoning.
Post some pictures and lets get this palm positively identified before you start guzzling the fruit in any quantity.
I bet that my mommy was ignorant of delicious palm fruit and was merely trying to teach me not to indescriminately (sp?) eat strange berry thingies.
sorry, mom, but they are delicious!
hehehe. okay, it will take until late afternoon tomorrow, but I shall refrain from eating the delicious things. They look like the jelly palm fruits. I am in panhandle florida …
Did you experience any sensation in your mouth that you might describe as ‘prickly’ after tasting them? That would be a diagnostic symptom of calcium oxalate ingestion, but the ‘sour plums’ part of your description of the taste also worries me.
Let’s ID the plant, then you can either avoid them entirely, or scoff them until they burst out of your bottom (and they will, if you eat too many).
again I failed to finish my post.
I’ve eaten only 1.5 fruits. While I am feeling goofy, it is most likely due to the 2 beers my neighbor has provided as well as my having foregone sleep for nearly 40 hours.
the fruits smell fantastic but i am a-scared to eat more of them 
no, the only lingering and mildly unpleasant flavor was a grassiness … I attributed that to yesterdays thunderstorm which probably knocked the wonderful things off prematurely.
Consult with your county extension agency or a local nursery; there is a palm tree that has date-looking thingies that aren’t so good for you. Also here in Crackerland, there is a palm tree that can be cut down, split open, and the pith consumed. It reminded me of chewing pencils when I was in grade school. Is it the Sago palm?
Dunno; the sago palm isn’t a palm at all - it’s a cycad (although it looks like a palm), and I think it requires processing of the pulp before it is edible.
You might be thinking of the cabbage palm, in which the immature growing shoots inside the crown are edible.
I don’t show up until you’re completely dead.