The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday. It is a joyous day that celebrates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; the roads were covered with palm fronds. This begat many traditions: In Chamula, Chiapas, for example, the entry of the church is strewn with fresh pine boughs known as juncio. The idea is that the fragrance and essence of the pine oil cleanses your soul.

This tradition seems to have been born in Spain and does not always have religious connotations.  Agustin Lara, our Cole Porter, who composed classics such as Solamente una Vez, Valencia and Granada,.  His homage to Granada, where  he had never been is considered  by many to  be the song that best captures the spirit of this magnificent city so, on  his first visit there, a parade was arranged and all the streets that he would pass through all the streets were covered with red carnations.

In churches both in the U.S. and Mexico, beautiful woven palm crosses or other figures are given out as mementos at this joyous occasion. In many places, celebratory lunches follow. For those, I like to serve my favorite, go-to appetizer, a hearts of palm puree from Veracruz.

Most people love to eat heart of palm. But in the 90s, as they say in Mexico, it was “como pegarle a Dios en domingo”—a guilty pleasure. The sin is that the whole plant has to be sacrificed to get at the delicious core. At the time, the species commonly used took a long time to mature and was over-harvested, so it became endangered. (It grows in very limited qualities in this country, primarily in the Florida wetlands.) But most growers now have switched to faster-maturing species, among them the acai which has become so famous for its fruit.

I’ve never seen heart of palm sold in its fresh state, but in Veracruz and places like Brazil and Chile the plants grow like weeds and in the tradition of our cultures, every part of the plant is used. People make furniture with the thick trunks or use them to construct tejabanes to cover their courtyard. Fortunately, they taste even better when they are cooked, brined and canned. They are available in many large supermarkets, so buy a few cans and have them at home in case you get some unexpected visitors.