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BACKGROUND Preventing post-harvest waste of Palmyra palm ( Borassus aethiopum Mart.) fruits is possible by recovery of pectin as a value-added ingredient. Extraction conditions on yield and functionality of Palmyra palm pectin was determined at different temperatures and pH values with 30 min extraction time. RESULTS Palmyra palm fruits contain more than 650 g kg−1 galacturonic acid and produce soft gels with sucrose in acidic media despite a high degree of acetylation (∼5%). Mechanical deformation of pectin gel was similar when extracted at pH 2.5 and 70 °C or under natural pH at room temperature or 70 °C. Pectins isolated at pH 7 exhibited comparable gel softness ( G′/ G″) with commercial pectin. Palm pectins also showed emulsifying activity greater than 50%, attributed to high protein content of 8 g 100 g−1. For pectins extracted at pH near 5.2-5.5, molar mass ranged from 3.00 to 3.38 × 105 g mol−1; intrinsic viscosity ranged from 218 to 297 mL g−1; arabinose was the main neutral sugar; ζ-potential ranged from −23 to −25 mV. CONCLUSION Palm fruit offers an inexpensive raw material to extract pectin in environmentally friendly and economical way and yield a pectin with unique gelling, viscosifying and emulsifying properties. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]