Heart of palm may be harvested from palm trees as a source of food. The core of a heart of palm heart is more desirable than the base of the palm heart due to its more favorable characteristics, resulting in under-utilization and waste of the base. The base and core may be processed in ways that advantageously utilize the base and overcome differences in density and inherent taste properties between the two sections. In an example, the base is treated with a cleaning solution and pieces are formed from the base. In this example, the pieces are immersed in an acid solution and packaged in an oxygen-impermeable packaging medium. The resulting heart of palm base pieces have favorable taste and mouthfeel and the pieces derived from the base are indistinguishable from pieces derived from the core.

Heart of palm may be harvested from palm trees as a source of food. The core of a heart of palm heart is more desirable than the base of the palm heart due to its more favorable characteristics, resulting in under-utilization and waste of the base. The base and core may be processed in ways that advantageously utilize the base and overcome differences in density and inherent taste properties between the two sections. In an example, the base is treated with a cleaning solution and pieces are formed from the base. In this example, the pieces are immersed in an acid solution and packaged in an oxygen-impermeable packaging medium. The resulting heart of palm base pieces have favorable taste and mouthfeel and the pieces derived from the base are indistinguishable from pieces derived from the core.