The strange, booming market of Florida s palmetto berries
Mike Baker, a longtime harvester and collector of palmetto berries, built his own collection facility in Indiantown, Florida. Photograph: Rose Marie Cromwell/The Guardian
Despite no clinical evidence, the oil is used to treat prostate issues in an international market estimated at $200m this year
by MichaelAdno
Mon 23 Nov 2020 01.00 EST
Last modified on Wed 25 Nov 2020 10.29 EST
Mockingbirds announce the first signs of light as Elbin Sales Pérez disappears into a tightly knit maze of saw palmetto, a creeping, palm like shrub that blankets Florida. He’s searching for a berry nestled under the stalks of the spiky plant that grows wild in the American south.