A Chilean wine palm, one of the world’s southernmost palm species and endemic to Chile, spills sweet sap as it is cut. It falls to the ground, where up to 800 litres of the sugary liquid are then extracted and boiled to concentrate the sugar, making seventy kilograms of 'Miel de Palma', or palm honey.
The indigenous peoples of Chile once extracted the sap while leaving the palms intact. But shortly after European conquistadores colonised the wild austral land, this destructive method of cutting the trees began. Although there have been improvements in management, the felling of palms for this purpose still continues. But the humble honeybee could just end this practice... depending on its tastes.
Originally, the Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis) was found throughout Chile´s central valleys. In the 19th Century it was estimated that there were 500,000 in just one region. Now there are only 120,000 in the whole country and its status is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Central Chile is one of the world’s twenty five biodiversity hotspots, that is, the biologically richest but also most threatened areas on the planet. Central Chile´s flora, over half of which is endemic (not found elsewhere in the world), is under threat. As people seek to make a living from the land, native vegetation is cleared for farming, vineyards and plantations of faster-growing exotic tree species. So the critical question remains - how to balance conservation while still ensuring economic survival?
Javier Salvatierra, a Masters student at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile has been investigating how apiculture could offer a way to integrate the conservation and use of native plant species. If he can prove that a type of honey has a pollen content of forty five percent or more from a given species, it will be recognised as monofloral honey. This classification of purity also adds commercial value to the product, providing a financial incentive to locals to conserve the native flora for its nectar.
La Reserva Ecológica Oasis de La Campana is a private reserve and Javier’s field study area, hosting numerous native species of flora, including the Chilean wine palm. Some allotments have been sold for holiday homes within the reserve and while the palms still remain, Javier is keen to secure their future. Over the summer of 2007 – 2008, Javier donned a beekeepers suit to collect weekly honey samples from a number of beehives dotted throughout the 2500-hectare reserve. From these honey samples, he must then identify from which flora species the nectar has come from. This is done by determining the proportion of pollen types present in the honey samples.
Back at the university, Javier shows me around the lab where he meticulously identifies each of the minuscule pollen grains that are stored on a stack of microscope slides. While Javier has yet to find a sample containing more than forty five percent of wine palm pollen, twenty-three of the twenty-six samples contained monofloral honey from other native species, particularly Quillay. Currently, Chile exports honey in 360 kilogram barrels with no differentiation of type or area of origin. With these results, honey from this region could be identified as monofloral and marketed much in the same way as popular New Zealand monofloral honeys.
The question of producing Chilean wine palm bee honey still remains unanswered. But Javier is confident that further research could reveal a superior method for obtaining the product. If honey is collected more frequently to precisely coincide with the palm´s flowering period, a higher proportion of palm pollen could be found. Also, scientists are still determining the average number of pollen grains for a set volume of nectar for each plant species. If, in comparison with other plants, the palm has more nectar per pollen grain, the likelihood of finding monofloral palm honey will increase.
Javier, whose last name ‘Salvatierra’ suitably means ‘save the earth’ is more than aware of the social and political realities of conservation: “The ideal would be for them to protect the area fully, but it just isn’t profitable. At least by introducing bees it is offering an alternative form of income that is not as harmful on the environment.”
When I first arrived in Chile, not knowing what it was, I was curious to try this 'Miel de Palma'. Thankfully I refrained from an impulsive purchase that would have supported a destructive practice. Now, each time I pass a can of 'Miel de Palma', I am comforted by the thought that it could soon be replaced by a multitude of rich, unique monofloral honeys that help to sustain the astounding natural heritage and beauty of this country. And hopefully one of them will bear a picture of the majestic palm, standing upright until nature decides its time to fall. Consumers, in Chile and their export destinations, could then support conservation in a way that leaves a sweet taste in their mouthes.
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(Posted by Josephine Howitt in Columns at 3:21 PM)
