THE GREATNESS AND EVERYTHING OF PALMWINE

                 



Health Benefits of Palm Wine
Since palm wine is high in amino acids, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and iron. And also has contains vitamin B1, B2, B3, and B6. Drinking palm wine (especially freshly tapped unfermented sap) is a good source of healthy nutrients that helps to build and repair tissues in our body.

Palm wine is a good source of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) that produces energy for the body. Riboflavin also works as an antioxidant that fights and defends against damaging particles in the body known as free radicals. Free radicals can damage cells and DNA, and may contribute to aging, as well as the development of a number of health conditions, such as heart disease and cancer.

Below is a breakdown of some of the health benefits of palm wine (palm tree sap). Palm wine helps with:

Vision
Depression
Fatigue
Nausea
Blood pressure
Slows aging
Prevents cancer
Symptoms of malaria
Promotes skin and hair health
There are also word-of-mouth reports that palm wine helps with male erection. In West African culture, palm wine is credited for increasing sperm in men and breast milk production in women.



Information about Palm wine
Palm wine is an alcoholic beverage created from the fermented sap of various palm trees. It is collected (or tapped) from tall palm trees, or raffia tree which is shorter and thus more accessible. There are reports some people also collect sap from oil palm tree (Elaies guineensis). However, sap from a palm tree (raffia tree) is milkier and sweeter.



When palm wine is tapped fresh and not fermented; it is considered a fruit juice or drink as it contains no levels of alcohol yet; which makes it highly nutritious and beneficial to the body.

Fermentation of palm wine begins immediately after collection as a result of natural yeasts in the air and wine; within two hours, the alcohol content reaches approximately 4%. At this stage, the product is a sweet, white, mildly intoxicating aromatic beverage.

Continued fermentation for up to 24 hours results in a more alcoholic, acidic, and sour white drink. This palm wine can also be distilled into whisky-like drinks with higher alcohol content (up to 40%). Beyond a certain threshold, the wine no longer gains alcohol content and further fermentation produces vinegar.

Many factors including the species of the tree, the season of the year, time of day at harvest, and type of soil, impact the alcohol content of the wine. In fact, these factors play a key role in the characteristics of the final product as rudimentary storage and production facilities do little to preserve the product.

In Africa, the sap that provides the base of palm wine is extracted and collected by a palm wine tapper. Palm wine tapping is a common occupation in many palm-growing regions of the world. In most cases, it involves climbing very tall palm trees using rudimentary climbing equipment, slashing the palm flower until the sap begins to run and attaching a gourd to collect the wine.

Palm wine can also be tapped from fallen trees which yield higher quality wine but in much smaller quantities. Although bringing down the palm tree is a much safer practice, this method of tapping is said to be destructive and the sap stops flowing after 2–3 weeks. Given that the tapper is most often not the tree owner, the former method is preferred since it preserves the tree for many years at the cost of more labor time, effort and risk. In many countries palm wine carries an important sociocultural and economic value.


Culled from  InformAfrica.com and written by Kevin Onuma