| Oil palm has been processed
in Africa for thousands of years. It produces highly coloured
and flavoured oil - an essential ingredient in traditional
West and Central African cuisine.
Palm oil is rich in carotenoids (pigments found in plants
and animals) from which it derives its rich red colour. The
major component of its glycerides is the saturated fatty acid
palmitic; hence it is a viscous semi-solid even in tropical
climes, and a solid fat in the temperate zone.
| Oil palm is grown as a plantation
crop in areas with a high rainfall (minimum 1,600
mm/yr) and tropical climates within 10° of
the equator. The palm bears its fruit in large
bunches which range in weight from 10 to 40 kg.
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| The individual fruit,
ranging from 6 to 20g, are made up of an outer
skin (the exocarp), a pulp (mesocarp) containing
the palm oil in a fibrous matrix; a central nut
consisting of a shell (endocarp); and the kernel,
which itself contains an oil, quite different
to palm oil.
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