African oil palm

In Ghana the oil palm’s fruit makes abɛnkwan palm-nut soup, and its sap becomes palm wine and the spirit distilled from it, akpeteshie.

The African oil palm has a straight trunk up to 20 m tall and a crown of long, pinnate leaves. It bears large, heavy bunches of orange-red drupes; their fleshy outer layer provides red palm oil, and the kernels a pale palm kernel oil. It comes from the humid lands of West and Central Africa, where it has been one of the most important useful plants for thousands of years. The leaves are used for thatching and basket-weaving, and the sap tapped from the trunk or inflorescences is made into palm wine.

Significance in the country

Abɛnkwan palm-nut soup, eaten with fufu, is one of Ghana’s most popular dishes, and red palm oil is the staple cooking fat of the south. Palm wine and akpeteshie, the spirit distilled from it, play an important part in social life and in ceremonies.

Where it grows

The forest and coastal savanna zone in the south of the country – most of all in the Eastern, Western, Central and Ashanti regions, but also in Brong-Ahafo and Volta.

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