Palm oil is the most used oil in the world. The edible oil comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. In Indonesia, it is called sawit (pronounced saweet). The fruit produces 2 types of oil: squeezing the fleshy part of the fruit produces crude palm oil. Crushing the kernel/stone in the middle produces palm kernel oil. The plant originated in Africa and was brought to South-East Asia ~100 years ago. Indonesia and Malaysia supply over 85% of the world’s palm oil.
Palm oil is used in 50% of the packaged products in grocery stores. You can find palm oil in pizza, doughnuts, chocolate, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and cosmetics. It is used as a biofuel. I found it in dog food and dog treats. I stopped buying dog treats with palm oil when I had Mack. Now, I do not buy any dog treats.
I tried all the jobs except cutting the palm fronds to get to the palm oil fruit. I cut down the fruit, tried carrying the bunch of fruit (it is heavy even though they make it look easy), and moved the fronds after they are cut. I was only good at carrying the fronds, so that was my job. In the picture, they helped me with the first one then I did it by myself. They seem to think I am not capable of work.
They move the fronds to the base of the tree for fertilizer. Basically, plants will eat themselves.
No matter where you go leeches are always close and ready to latch on. This time no leeches ate me. But if you are interested, I did have a great adventure with them in 2023: April 27 (2023) Leeches “This is Friend”!
Lunch break. I eat an apple for lunch everyday. Easy to carry and I do not need to worry about bacteria. This is where we cleaned up for break. In the middle of the wooden fence is a well. You can see the pulley and the bucket. They are not worried about anything falling in their well. You can look right over into it.
My favorite part of the day was playing with the goats. The baby was sooooooo adorable. I fed the male goat my apple, but the momma and baby were not interested.
When the work is done, they weigh the palm oil fruit. A truck picks it up and carries it to the palm oil company. Do you recognize what they made into a water trough?
If a video is more your thing. This is a video of cutting the palm fruit, the goats, and a bit about the fruit. But it is 5 minutes!
2 responses to “Working the Palm Oil: The Most Used Oil in the World September 18, 2025”
It all was interesting but I liked video best.
I like the videos too. I think they give you a better feel for what is happening.