Uses of Palm in Saudi Arabia

Uses of Palm in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia serve a wide array of purposes, contributing to various industries including medicine, oils, fuel, fertilizers, and construction materials. Palm by-products are also used in several manufacturing sectors within the Kingdom.

Palm dates are popular in the Kingdom, as they are prepared on dining tables, on public and private occasions, and when receiving guests, along with Saudi coffee. Iqt and dates are consumed with Arabic coffee and are called 'Qadoo'. Dates are composed of sugar (74 percent), water (15 percent), albuminous materials (2 percent), and fats (2.5 percent). They are also rich in vitamins (A, B1, B2), mineral salts, and proteins.

Dates are easy to preserve and serve as a food, dessert, and ingredient in various drinks, sweets, and jams. Among the drinks that are made from dates is dates infusion. Traditional dishes made from dates include 'Khabees,' a traditional dish made of a mixture of dates, honey, and butter; 'al-Ayla,' made from mashed dates and laban; and 'al-Hais', also known as 'al-Watba', a combination of Berni dates, ghee, and pounded Iqt.

Palm by-products such as dry dates, low-quality dates, palm fronds, shees (unfertilized dates), kosba (molasses press residue), and date seed meal are ground and used as animal feed and fattening supplements. Juicy palm roots and ground fronds are also fed to heavy-working animals.

Dates are known for their diuretic properties and aid in liver cleansing, kidney flushing, enhancing mental strength, and nerve fortification. They help in softening blood vessels, treating night blindness, certain eye diseases, and rheumatism, and serve as a uterine astringent post-delivery. It also helps in wound healing and prevents bleeding. Palm tree oils are extracted from palm trees and palm fruits and utilized in pharmaceutical products.

In ancient times, before the advent of coal, electricity, and oil, palm trees were used as fuel for cooking and heating. Palmwood was burnt to produce charcoal and ash, which was then used for cleaning and whitening metal utensils. Although no longer a primary fuel source, palmwood is still used by some Bedouin communities lacking access to electricity and gas.

Palm residues, including fronds, bark, seeds, fibers, and infected or dead palm trees, are burnt with animal waste and buried in deep pits known as 'Tabenah' for fermentation. Then it is spread on the surface of the soil after it is extracted, and the land is plowed so that the resulting product becomes a natural fertilizer that increases the fertility of the soil.

Palm trunks are versatile and were traditionally used with fronds to build shops, house roofs, mosque fences, and structural supports for walls and ceilings. Palmwood is crafted into doors, stairs, windows, containers, tables, chairs, outer doors, and even boats, which are made from trunk sections. Trunks also serve as columns for wells, supports for troughs known as 'al-Lazza,' and when split in half, their hollow interior is used as gutters ('marazim' or 'mazarib') or drains for rainwater from rooftops, as well as channels for transporting water to farms.

Palm fronds were historically used for tying the sleeves of the palm trees, packaging, and making bins, brooms, fans, mats, baskets, bags, prayer rugs, hats, and various household items. Palm fiber is employed in making pillows, ropes, mats, hats, containers, pouches, strainers for coffee pots, oil filters, body scrubs, cleaning utensils, kindling, waterway protection, vegetable storage, and pollen wrapping.

Palm by-products, including dates, date stalks, fronds, fibers, and dry seeds, are utilized in several industries due to their cellulose content. These industries include silk production, paper manufacturing, compressed wood production, and nylon as intermediates. Palm by-products are also used to dissolve dyes and colorants, with some types of medical alcohol being extracted from 'Jumara' (palm heart)