Hearts of Palm Salad

Hearts of Palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees. It is definitely an acquired taste. Back in high school, I had a friend whose family LOVED these and would constantly be eating them. It took me a few tries to enjoy them, but now they are one of my favourite snacks. While hearts of palm are great to eat on their own, they are even more delicious in a salad. I decided to build a salad around the hearts of palm, allowing them to be star of this dish.

Hearts of palm come in a can in their juices and can either be bought whole or cut up. I prefer to buy whole and cut them myself. I find the whole ones are much softer. It has a pickled taste but a smooth, melt in your mouth texture.

I have combined the hearts of palm with tomatoes, arugula, green onions and sprouts. A very simple drizzle of olive oil and balsamic syrup along with salt and pepper make for one of the easiest salads to assemble. The salty, pickled flavour from the hearts of palm, peppery flavour from the arugula, sweetness from the tomatoes/balsamic and tangy bite from the green onion/sprouts make for a well balanced salad. It may be easy to assemble, but it looks and tastes impressive and that is worth gossiping about!

Hearts of Palm Salad

Yeild: 2-4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 can of hearts of palm, sliced thinly
2 cups arugula
2 small tomatoes, small dice
1 green onion, chopped
2 tbsp sprouts
Drizzle olive oil
Drizzle balsamic syrup
Salt/pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. On a small platter or in a bowl, place arugula on the bottom. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Then layer the following on top, hearts of palm, tomatoes, green onion, sprouts,
3. Drizzle with more olive oil and balsamic syrup. Season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!