Palmitos Brazil is the largest producer in the world of hearts of palm (palmitos). Crops are mostly located in the southern part of the country, especially in Goias and Mato Grosso, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, San Paulo, Parana and Santa Caterina. The reason for this territorial selection derives from the great quantity of rainfall - over 150 cm/year - of this area and from the humidity which is like in no other part of the world, constantly ranging from 85 to 90%. In fact, palm trees need these basic conditions to grow, in addition to acid soil rich in calcium, potassium and magnesium. The government of Brazil considers the palm tree industry a basic item of Brazil's agricultural and food economy, and has therefore developed intensive cultivation projects, especially as regards the Euterpe Oleracea and Euterpe Edulis species from which the best quality possible of palmito is obtained. Harvest occurs all year round due to the very rapid reproductive cycles of the palm trees. Processing is still essentially carried out manually because due to its great fragility the product would not stand industrialised treatment. The pieces are therefore cut to container size, consisting of glazed-interior tin cans or glass jars, and added with pickling liquid mixed with salt and citric acid. The containers are then sterilised in autoclaves and left to cool at room temperature, labelled and packaged for shipping. Worthy of note is the fact that hearts of palm contain only 1% in fat, are cholesterol-free and are rich in iron (15%). Our palmitos Recipes