ISDSI’s field courses immerse students in local culture and ecology, and provide academically challenging activities so students can learn by experience.  However, we recognize that students need a break too.  After all, meeting with local villagers, measuring biodiversity of a local forest, writing essays and speaking Thai with host families for 17 days, no matter how exciting, can be tiring on the brain.  That’s where making black sugar palm desserts enters the picture on the Sustainable Food Systems course! It has become tradition for ISDSI students and some of the villagers to spend one of the afternoons in Ban Mae Mah making “Luk-chit,” a Thai dessert made from the jelly-like seeds of the black sugar palm.  It started with villagers cutting the large heavy fruit clumps down from the tree and steaming them.  They then showed ISDSI students how to pop the three seeds out from the fruit using a a knife and two boards that get pushed together. Very rarely you’re even lucky enough to find 4 seeds in the fruit like one of our students did this past course!  We considered it the Thai version of the four leaf clover.After students popped all the seeds out, it was time to soak the seeds overnight and then boil them before eating the sweet dessert the next day.  However, the waiting was worth it!  Upon arriving to the former headman’s house the next day for lunch, the “luk chit” (black sugar palm seeds) were waiting for us along with a bit of water and sweetened coconut milk. It was quickly tasted by all and eaten throughout the day, because there’s nothing quite like a sweet dessert to help you feel rejuvenated and ready for the next activity!