The Culture of La Palm

In many parts of the world extraction techniques of palm sap are still active that bear some relationship to those used in La Gomera. The obtention of the palm sap, called Guarapo, is still found in several African countries. A good descripción of ancestral roots of these practices is found in the famous Nigerian Amos Tutuola novel The palm wine drinker, that shows the huge appreciation that this country has towards the palm sap.

However there are some references on the use of sampling techniques as delicate to extract guarapo from palm tree as used in La Gomera. The closest references are found in North Africa. As well afrima Montesinos: << ... is the most appropriate technique for a natural means such as the North African palm, concentrated mostly in oasis. This is so trae that the palm (date) has played such an important role in the lives of people in these desert areas as prime food source, it's logical extreme care because that thses people do not allow their palms to die >> .

Although there are some differences with our canary techniques: for example, at the end of the harvest, when the palm has given all possible without endangering the palm, Tunisians covered the wound with a mixture of camel dung and olive paste intended to cause rapid recovery. Also like our ancestors made, in our islands all Palm products were maximized.

The variety of uses and exploitation of the palm and the relative sotisficación of these techniques require us to think in a true culture. Miraculously this pool of practices in La Gomera has survived over the centuries long before the Conquest. These practices were common to other islands, but currently have almost completely disappeared. Surpisingly enough, from the palm everything is used, from the trunk to the leaves from the sap until fruit. Its culture is a model of ancient popular wiseness, an example of potencial exploitation even if the resources are scarce. The diversity of applications helps us to understand the importance that the palm has had and has for gomeran people.