Marx Foods has allowed me to review pieces from their Eco-Friendly Palm Plates collection. These plates are made from naturally discarded leaves from the Adaka Palm tree. The trees are not harmed in any way, the old leaves are simply picked off the ground and re-used. Then the leaves are rinsed in water, hand washed with water and turmeric, and then rinsed again with water. They are air dried, hand stretched, and flattened. The molding of the different plate shapes is done with a heat press and multiple shapes are cut from each leaf to avoid waste. They are then sun dried and packaged for sale.
Look at the thickness to these plates. Marx Foods did a weight taste with a round palm plate to see how durable they were. With just holding the plate by its edges, not underneath, and stacking it with bean filled containers, it held 13 lbs!
I tried to conduct my own test with a palm plate and a very thick paper bowl. I have noticed in the past when salsa sits in a regular paper bowl, it creates a soggy bowl so I wanted to try and test the durability. Note: this is a thick paper bowl in this test.
I placed 3/4 cup homemade salsa into each bowl. I tried to be equal, but it almost looks more watery in the palm hexagon.
Here are the plates after 10 hours 19 minutes at room temperature (mid-70’s). Both are holding up well. There was a little warping to the palm plates on initial examination.
When I lifted the plates, I could see a ring of moisture on the white paper towel, but it was not present with the palm plate. Look closely to see it. I could push the bottom quite a ways up on the paper bowl, but there was no give to the underside of the palm hexagon.
Then I took another palm plate and placed it in the microwave with tortilla chips and cheddar cheese. I microwaved it for 40 seconds on high. 
The plate was easy to handle and just warm to the touch. My children devoured the nachos.
Then I placed the dirty palm plate from the nachos in the dishwasher and ran it on the regular cycle with my other dirty dishes. It does heat dry the dishes.
It came out clean, but rather floppy in form. The top surface was damp, but the bottom felt almost completely dry to the touch.
Imagine what a paper plate would look like – if you could still find any resemblance of a plate!
Then I placed a jar on top to see if it would take on its original form as it was still damp.
I checked on it the next morning and it was still damp and somewhat back to its original form, but not completely.
My last experiment was just taking a KitchenAid pizza cutter and see if I could cut the edge if I went against the grain. This took my one forceful pass to cut through the plate.
Palm plates are biodegradable so I just placed them in the compost bin when done.
Maybe in a month or two they will be part of the new compost for my garden. 🙂Palm Plates are:
- Biodegradable
- Have a pretty wood design and pretty much each plate is slightly different/unique in pattern and color
- Thick
- Lightweight
- Sturdy
- Disposable
- Takes a very long time for liquids to soak through
The only cons I noted were:
- Sometimes a little rough around edges
- Bottoms a look sometimes a little warped/curvy in appearance
- Cost – a bit over $1 a piece.
I could be wrong, but I think the Adaka Palm tree typically grows in southern India. So with the transportation costs and the time to hand wash these plates, I can understand where the extra cost comes into play.
Palm plates seem to have unsurpassed durability over plastic or paper, a unique, natural look, is created from a resource that is normally discarded, and is biodegradable. They probably would withstand some hand washing since they did make it through the dishwasher (just lost a bit of original shape) and so there may be some possibility to re-use them for a short time, like for a weekend family trip.
Disclosure: I received Palm Plates from Marx Foods for this review. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own. No other compensation was received to produce this review.
