Hyphaene thebaica
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| The Doum Fruit |
Doum nut, also spelled dhoum nut,
the nut of the doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica), native to Upper Egypt, Sudan,
South Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania. Also called the gingerbread palm, the
15.2-metre (50-foot) tree has a slender trunk and smooth branches, each tipped
with a rosette of small, stiff, green, fanlike leaves.
The flavour of the red-orange
fruit is frequently likened to that of gingerbread. The nut is eaten raw, and
the rind from the seeds is made into sweetmeats and molasses. The groundnuts
are used to dress wounds. Vegetable ivory, the hard white part of the nut,
takes a high polish and is used as a substitute for ivory, especially in the
manufacture of buttons. Leaves of the doum palm are used for cordage, mats, and
inferior paper. Doum nuts have been found in 5,000-year-old Egyptian tombs.
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| Fruit layers |
Hyphaene thebaica, with common
names doum palm (Ar: دوم) and gingerbread tree (also doom palm), is a type of
palm tree with edible oval fruit. It is a native to the Arabian Peninsula and
also to the northern half of Africa where it is widely distributed and tends to
grow in places where groundwater is present. It has been shown that dietary
supplementation with doum palm extract has hypotensive and hypolipidemic
effects.
Description
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| Doum Tree |
The doum palm is a dioecious palm
and grows up to 17 m (56 ft) high. The trunk, which can have a girth of up to
90 cm (35 in), branches dichotomously and has tufts of large leaves at the ends
of the branches. The bark is fairly smooth, dark grey and bears the scars of
fallen leaves. The petioles (leaf stalks) are about a meter long, sheathing the
branch at the base and armed with stout upward-curving claws. The leaves are
fan shaped and measure about 120 by 180 cm (47 by 71 in). Male and female
flowers are produced on separate trees. The inflorescences are similar in
general appearance, up to about 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) long, branching irregularly
and with two or three spikes arising from each branchlet. Female trees produce
large woody fruits, each containing a single seed that remain on the tree for a
long period.
Distribution and habitat
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| Doum typical habitat |
The doum palm is native to the
northern half of Africa. It is widespread in the Sahel and grows from
Mauritania and Senegal in the west, through Central Africa, and east to Egypt,
Kenya and Tanzania. It tends to grow in areas where groundwater is present and
is found along the Nile River in Egypt and Sudan, in riverside areas of
northwestern Kenya, and along the Niger River in West Africa. It is also native
to the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula (Israel, Sinai, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
and is reportedly naturalized in the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean It
grows in wadis and at oases, but sometimes occurs away from water and on rocky
hillsides. It dislikes waterlogged soils and is very resistant to destruction
by bushfires.
Uses
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| Products from leaves and fibers |
The doum palm flourishes in hot
dry regions where little else grows and the tree is appreciated for the shade
it provides. All parts of the tree are useful, but probably the most important
product is the leaf. The fiber and leaflets are used by people along the Niger
and Nile Rivers to weave baskets, such as in the material culture of the
Manasir. Other things made from the leaves are mats, coarse textiles, brooms,
ropes, string and thatch. The timber is used for posts and poles, furniture
manufacture and beehives, and the tree provide wood for fuel. The leaf stalks are
used for fencing and the fiber is used for textiles. Other products include
fishing rafts, brooms, hammocks, carpets, buttons and beads.
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| Doum Fruits |
Food
The doum palm fruit-dates are also
known in Eritrea as Akat, or Akaat in the Tigre language. The thin dried brown
rind is made into molasses, cakes, and sweetmeats. The unripe kernels are
edible. The shoots of the germinated seeds are also eaten as a vegetable.
In Egypt, the fruit is sold in herbalist shops, and is popular among
children, gnawing its sweet yet sour hard fibrous flesh beneath the shiny hard
crust.
It is worth mentioning that street Vendors used to sell doum together
with Carob, Pumpkin seeds and stick of molasses known as "Caca Chinois" in front
for schools in Egypt.
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| Doum drink |
Medicinal uses
The fruit of the doum palm has
been used in folk medicine to treat hypertension. In a trial, a group of
patients with raised blood pressure were all given an antihypertensive drug but
in half the individuals, this was supplemented with doum fruit extract. It was
found that those receiving the supplement had lower systolic and diastolic
pressures and lower total cholesterol, and the blood lipids and lipoproteins
were changed in such a way as to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.
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| Carving on the Doum inner nut |
Egyptian tombs
The Ancient Egyptians considered
doum palm sacred, and the seed was found in many pharaoh's tombs. On September
24, 2007, it was announced that a team of Egyptian archaeologists led by Zahi
Hawass, discovered eight baskets of 3,000-year-old doum fruit in King
Tutankhamun's tomb. The fruit baskets were each 50 high, the
antiquities department said. The fruit are traditionally offered at funerals.
