Palm oil fruit

We saw many of these huge trucks transporting a large 45cm long fruit to depots on the freeway. We had no idea what there where. Then when leaving Chumphon we took a back road through the plantations of Palm trees and were close enough to see the fruit. I then saw the fruit on the Oil Palm. It grows at the base of the palm frond and becomes a huge bunch of berries. These are crushed to make Palm oil which is the fastest growing oil industry of all the oils. Its cheap and can be found in many foodstuffs and chocolates as its solid at room temperature. Its very controversial as many forests in Indonesia are being burnt down to make space for Palm oil plantations.

This is a Coconut Palm on the left and an Oil palm on the right.