What is palm wine?
Palm wine is a sweet-tasting, cloudy, effervescent,alcoholic beverage drink made up of constituents obtained from fermented sap tapped from cut flowers of various palm tree species such as palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms.
What are the constituents of Palm wine?
Palm wine is made up of the following nutrients;
Sugars(e.g maltose, sucrose, glucose etc)
Amino acids,
Crude protein,
Lipid,
Vitamins A and C,
Water,
Crude fibre,
Magnesium,
Iron,
Copper,
Saccharomyces cerevisae (yeast)
Ash.
What other names is palm wine called?
Palm wine, known by several different names based on locality and language.
It is known as emu or oguro among the Yorubas of the Nigeria’s southwest; ukot mmong among the Anang people of Nigeria’s south-south , mmanya among the Igbo, and gya in Hausa dialect.
Outside Nigeria, it is sodavi (distilled), sodabe, atan in Benin Republic, tuk tnout choo in Cambodia,matango, mbuh, tumbu liquor, white stuff in Cameroon,vino de coyol in Central America, zōng lǘ jiǔ in China,ubusulu, injemane in South Africa, Kalou in Seychelles etc.
Is Palm wine an alcoholic drink?
Yes it is. It’s alcohol content may be tempered by its sweet taste and the presence of the other nutrients found in Palm wine.
What tree is palm wine from?
It is tapped from the cut flowers of palm tree species like date palms, Palmyra and coconut palms(e.g
Cocos nucifera, Elaeis guineensis etc) all belonging to the botanical family Arecaceae.
Palm trees are made up of 181 genera with around 2,600 species known palm trees with most of them found naturally in tropical and subtropical climates. Palm trees are known for their large, compound, evergreen leaves,arranged in fronds at the top of an unbranched stem.
What is palm wine tapping?
This is a professional skill of a palm wine tapper who removes sap from the cut flowers of palm trees and collects the sap in containers fastened to the palm tree flower stump, in it the sap is allowed to ferment moderately by the yeast present in the air or air, without losing its sweet taste before it is served or preserved for commercial bottling.
The white liquid collected directly as fresh palm tree sap is very sweet and non-alcoholic before it is fermented into palm wine.
When you should not be drinking Palm Wine.
Although contains some healthy and nutritious components,If you can’t control yourself and avoid drinking excess alcohol, you need to be aware that;
1. Palm-wine drank in excess can make you experience negative effect
on certain neurological processes,
such as temperature regulation, sleep,
and coordination.
For example, mod-
erate amounts of palm wine consumption can lower your body
temperature while excess consumption of palm wine in a cold environment may produce mas-
sive, life-threatening declines in tem-
perature (i.e., hypothermia).
2. The high ethanol content found in some palm-wine can be at levels toxic to liver function and lipid metabolism which can lead to liver damage.
3. Palm-wine interacts with a few medications . Such interactions may inhibit or add to the effects of these medications thereby putting you at risk of drug failure or symptoms similar to taking an overdose of the drug. Check out examples of palm wine-medication interactions here.
4. Excess palm wine consumption can tone down the the heart muscle contraction and reduce the blood pump function.
5. On no account should you drink excess palm wine in pregnancy. This is because the alcohol in the palm wine will cross the placenta-umbilical cord barrier into the fetus causing fetal alcohol syndrome.
This can lead to poor central nervous system development in the fetus and increase the chances of having high cognitive ability in the child.
Does palm wine cause weight gain?
Habitual alcohol consumption with low physical exercise will lead to weight gain.
However, there are reports which show that steady and moderate consumption of palm wine may not significantly affect your body weight loss plan nor testis weight nor sperm morphology, but palm wine consumption, especially in excess, can gradually distort testicular tissue formation with cells showing abnormal structure.
Is Palm wine Haram in Islam?
In the Hadith, Arabic Ḥadīth, record of traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, revered and received as a major source of religious law, spiritual and moral guidance, second only to the authority of the Qurʾān,Islam’s Holy book, the Holy Prophet said ” every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is forbidden.”
Traditions of Prophet Muhammad indicated that khamr may be made from two plants, the grape-vine and the date palms. Palm wine is obtained from palm tree and it contains alcohol which is a stimulant.
That automatically makes palm wine consumption to be forbidden in Islam.
What to look out for when buying Palm Wine
Adulterated palm wine with saccharin exists in the market so when buying palm wine, check the palm wine physical appearance first, the source of the palm wine , the packaging and the contact of the supplier or producer.
The unwholesome palm wine is often lighter and if it is cloudy and unfrothy, it could have been adulterated with saccharin and white flour.
Buy only from credible source and the container must be hygienic and effective to protect the integrity and quality of its content. The supplier’s contact should be available to you.
What are the Dangers of drinking adulterated palm wine.
If you drink adulterated palm wine, you can experience stomach discomfort, stooling, vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy, headache and elevated blood sugar arising from the high saccharin content in adulterated palm wine.
What does palm wine taste like?
Farm fresh palm wine is very tasty because of the high sugar content but as time goes, the yeast in the palm wine starts the fermentation process using the sugar for ethanol production thereby depleting the sugar.
What is palm wine used for?
It is used as a leavening agent added to dough in bread baking due to its yeast content.
Palm wine is an alcoholic beverage drink enjoyed by a lot of people at home and social event venues for its sweet taste, nutrient content and recreational appeal.
What are the health benefits of Palm Wine
Palm wine is an important ingredient in traditional medicine herbal products where it is employed for extracting active constituents from medicinal herbs in herbal decoctions.
It is regarded to be a very nourishing drink taken my lactating mothers to promote lactation.
It is used for the antiseptic effect of the ethanol when used to treat conjunctivitis, and
the yeast content in Palm wine is substantial enough that it is believed that consuming palm wine with its yeast content help improve eye vision
Does palm wine expire?
Expired palm wine tastes sour.
Fresh palm wine without preservatives can expire within 24 hours and in this, the fermentation process by the rapidly dividing yeast had been allowed to proceed to an advanced level that significantly depleted the sugar, giving rise to a high concentration of ethanol and a sour taste caused by the conversion of the ethanol to ethanoic acid.
Fresh palm wine, produced and packaged with preservatives and stored at appropriate conditions to slow down or inhibit further fermentation, takes longer to expire.
How strong is palm wine?
Sometimes,the amount of alcohol in palm wine can range between 4% to as high as 45% volume to volume percentage.
Does palm wine boost sperm?
Though regarded to be a fertility boosting drink for newly married men and traditionally served fresh palm wine on during marriage rites in some cultures,reports exist to the contrary in some studies.
Palm wine has been reported to cause a decline in testicular function because it is believed to be capable of decreasing the male sex hormone, testosterone, level, male sperm motility, and sperm viability, even without resulting in a significant change sperm cells morphology
Is Palm wine good for diabetic?
Palm wine cause low to moderate postprandial(after food consumption)rise of blood glucose in healthy subjects.
It contains potassium which plays a beneficial role in the uptake of insulin by the muscle cells thereby increasing the ability of muscle cells to respond to insulin and lower blood sugar.
Palm-wine should be the preferred choice for type-2 diabetic patients.
Is Palm wine good for ulcer?
Alcohol consumption is not encouraged in ulcer patients however, the polyphenol content of palm wine is comparable with those of conventional wine, so have mild effect on stomach acidity .
Palm wine, in particular, has been shown to cause up to a 21.8% decrease in gastric acid secretion, hence can be attributed to help peptic ulcer patients coping poorly.
Can fresh palm wine intoxicate?
Yes it can. Though tastes sweet to the tongue,it contains alcohol, mildly intoxicating and still a stimulant that have an effect on the brain.
As sweet and harmless it seems to most consumers, it should still be consumed in moderation.
Is Palm wine a probiotic?
Though it is rich in probiotic bacteria and natural yeasts , it can not be outrightly regarded as a probiotic because it is not often recommended or consumed as a source for those microorganisms required for their health benefits.
However, like yoghurt, it has been reportedly used as probiotic adjunct in poultry management.
Does palm wine contain yeast?
Yes, palm wine contains the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisae. That is the main reason it is added to leaven dough during bread baking.
How can palm wine be preserved?
Palm wine can be preserved by inhibiting or slowing down the further conversion of the sugar to ethanol by the yeast present in the palm wine.
The method used can be by adding chemical preservatives or physical processes such irradiation with ultraviolet radiation, freezing and pasteurization.
Why does palm wine taste sour after some days?
Palm sap contains natural yeasts, which ferments the sugar in the palm wine to alcohol,if the palm wine is not preserved,the bacteria, acetobacter,present in the air will contaminate the drink, multiply and consequently convert the alcohol to acetic acid (vinegar).
Without preserving the palm wine, it is best served and consumed within one day aftertapping, when the vinegar content is minimal; beyond this time, without preseevation to inhibit the microbial fermentation,the palm wine becomes increasingly sour and distasteful to drink.
Why does palm wine froth or foam?
The froth, which appears white on a palm wine, is formed by the bubbles of carbon dioxide gas formed during the fermentation process. As the gas tries to escape from the palm wine, it causes the liquid to foam.
Examples of brands of bottled Palm Wine
Palm Nectar Palm wine,
Pamii Premium Palm Wine,
Nkulenu’s Palm Drink,
Thnot Sparkling Mekong Wine.
How To Get Palm Wine For Free.
This well packaged bottled Palm Nectar palm wine, produced under hygienic conditions using sap collected from healthy palm trees, with all the benefits of palm wine, is here for you with huge discount.
Check it out below.
