Palm trees rule. At least in the countryside, where a group of resourceful students have recognized that the leafy trees are valuable sources of food and money. Having discovered that there are riches to be reaped from palm trees, students from the National Institute of Technology of Cambodia have established a business turning the sap drawn from palm buds into vinegar.
While gaining a few extra pennies themselves, the students help to employ country-dwellers who pick the sap from neighboring fields for sale. Local products are good for local people. Palm vinegar serves to replace the traditionally imported versions made from various acids. According to Pok Leakreasey, head of the Palm Vinegar Enterprise in Cambodia, imported vinegar is made from a variety of acids that can be harmful to one's health. If the vinegar's level of acidity is not properly measured, it may be particularly grueling on one's stomach, he said.

Unlike these unchecked versions of vinegar, the palm variety has a lower level of acidity and is less injurious to the body.

Palm sap often is sold for approximately 100 riel per liter, but palm vinegar reaches prices as high as 1000 riel per liter. Large bottles generally sell for 1300 riel. On average, Cambodians consume about five million liters of vinegar every year, according to Pok Leakreasey. Attempting to meet the growing demand for palm vinegar, his enterprise produces 50,000 liters of the product every year. Although limited funding has prevented the team from producing as much vinegar as they would like to, it aims to raise production to 70,000 liters next year.
The Palm Vinegar Enterprise is located in the Dounman village of the Sam Roungleur commune in the Kandal Stung district of Kandal province. Although currently small in size, the business is big on ideas. Managing one of the country's few Khmer-run enterprises, Pok Leakreasey and his team are on a fast track to success.