Now that I've grown a number of Date Palms from Date Pits, I may need to begun harvesting SAP as well! I love Dates, but this is a concept totally new to me. I have made Date wine in the past, using of course the fruit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine "Palm wine is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms.[1][2] It is known by various names in different regions and is common in various parts of Asia, Africa the Caribbean and South America." "The sap is extracted and collected by a tapper. (like Maple syrup!). Palm sap begins fermenting immediately after collection, due to natural yeasts in the air (often spurred by residual yeast left in the collecting container). Within two hours, fermentation yields an aromatic wine of up to 4% alcohol content, mildly intoxicating and sweet. The wine may be allowed to ferment longer, up to a day, to yield a stronger, more sour and acidic taste, which some people prefer. Longer fermentation produces vinegar instead of stronger wine." A toddy tapper belonging to Goundla caste in the state of Telangana selling toddy under the palm trees. Some small pollinating mammals consume large amounts of fermented palm nectar as part of their diet, especially the southeast Asian pen-tailed treeshrew. The inflorescences of the bertam palm contain populations of yeast which ferment the nectar in the flowers to up to 3.8% alcohol (average: 0.6%). The treeshrews metabolize the alcohol very efficiently and do not appear to become drunk from the fermented nectar.
@Missy Lee Here are our Date Palms, the newest little guy from seed is aching to leave the garage and get put in the ground. It has 3 fronds already, and is likely root-bound, nearly a year in the pot. Below, our first, bought at Wal-Mart, from their "discard" pile, this was taken 3 years ago. Below, today, it is as high as the house! It sprouted seed stalks last year, as though trying to produce fruit, but no dice. Maybe this year. Here is the one started from seed about a year ago, in the garage. The two in our back yard, grown indoors also from seed, put in the ground 3 years ago, one is taller than me! The pallet enclosure surrounds our fig tree, to block wind. It is 2 years old now, just budding now. I learned just last night that Date Palms are male and female, only the female producing fruit. So odds are I may get fruit, or wind up with ornaments! The germination rate for date pits was not high. I planted perhaps 10, and got 3 sprouts. Don't really know how to go about it, let the pits dry out for awhile first, put them in water, or what. I planted them maybe a few weeks after I ate the dates. AFAIK, dates have not been GMO'd, so probably any dates bought at the store might just propagate. Try it! Frank