Nipa Palm Benefits, Fruits, Leaves, And Sap For Making Sugar

Nipa palm benefits, leaves, sap and fruits for health and daily needs have done by Indonesians. There are several types of palm trees that grow in Indonesia, and each species has different benefits. On this page will discuss the Nipa palm benefits, Mangrove palm or Nypa Fruticans.

This plant is the original palm species of coastline and habitat around the estuary of Indian and Pacific Ocean. This plant is also the only one with a mangrove biome, and the only member of the genus Nypa and Nypoideae subfamily. Nipa Palm grows and develops in the estuary of Indonesia, and the Nipa palm benefits has used since ancient times. Among them as raw materials for making roof, herbal treatment, and as a fermented beverage.

Nipa Palm Benefits

The morphology of the Nipa palm leaves is long and hairy, most commonly use by local residents as roofing materials. Another form of utilization of Nipa Palm leaves also used for basket making and as an itching remedy. And a large trunk can float so it can used to train swimmers and rafters. Some of the benefits of Nipa Palm leaves that have used daily by local residents are:

1. Nipa Palm leaf used for building materials, roofing of houses.
2. Young leaves used to wrap tobacco cigarettes. And the young shoots used as food.
3. Nipa Palm leaf used to make mats, bags, hats and various wicker baskets.
4. Leaf stalks and Nipa Palm stem used as firewood. Nipa Palm leaf stalk contains cellulose and can used as raw material for pulp making.
5. Palm leaf sticks used for broom, wicker, and rope making.
6. Nipa Palm sap used to feed pigs in the dry season, thus providing a sweet taste in the meat. This is done by local residents on the islands of Rote and Sawu.
7. Flower clusters before bloom produce sweet sap for alcoholic beverages, such as wine or palm wine. Also used in making Nipa Palm vinegar in Indonesia and Philippines. Also used as ethanol to produce biofuels.
8. Flower petals used for making aromatics, and used as desserts in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore.
9. The sap of Nipa Palm leaf bumble used to make Nipa Palm sugar.
10. The Nipa Palm root used for dental pain and headache, this is done by residents in Borneo.

The Nipa palm benefits to produce vinegar, fermented drinks to treat diabetes, lower high blood pressure, lower cholesterol and treat heart disease. Some locals also use it for the treatment of constipation, hemorrhoids and bowel problems. Especially to get rid of toxins and overcome migraines.

Nipa Palm Sap And Fruits Benefits

Nipa palm sap has known to the people of Indonesia as a fresh and sweet drink, they name it 'Nira'. The cloudy white Nira that comes out of the Nipa Palm tree done 2 times a day, usually harvested in the morning and afternoon. The next day the bunches cut back to normalize the pores of the fruit stalks, and water dripped into the bamboo.

In some cases, one fruit bunch of Nipa Palm can drip for 2 to 3 months. This situation depends on the size and length of the fruit bunches. The yield of juice that harvested ranges from 500 ml to 1 liter. Processing Nira as follows:

1. Sap that has harvested, then moved to a larger container. Provided that sap should cooked for less than 3 hours, otherwise it will be stale.
2. To make the syrup, heat the sap up to 50 percent shrinkage.
3. To make liquid sugar, heat the sap up to shrink 70 percent.
4. And to make brown sugar, heat the sap up to 85 percent shrinkage.

For processing Nipa palm fruit, until now used for making sweets. There is also a mixture of drinks. The way is quite easy, provide enough jelly powder, as much as 100 grams of sugar, plus fragrant leaves. Combine and heat everything, then pour into a mold container that has filled with slices of fruits. Nipa palm fuits contain phytochemicals and antioxidant, its good for your health.

Reference

• The mangrove palm Nypa in the geologic past of the New World. Wetlands Ecology and Management (2001).
• Tumbuhan Berguna Indonesia. Heyne, K. Publish 1987.
• Nipa palms (Nypa fruticans), image courtesy by Wikimedia Commons.