Sago Seed

In addition to its use as a food source, the leaves and of the sago palm are used for construction materials, for thatching roofs, and the fibre can be made into rope.

Other Uses

In and , sago from Metroxylon is used as a starch in making noodles, white bread, and sago pearls (similar to tapioca). In pearl sago (a form of sago) is called , and is used in a variety of dishes including (not to be confused with the rice and lentils variety), and puddings. The source of this sago is most likely Metroxylon rather than the .         

The starch is also used to treat fibre to make it easier to machine. This process is called and helps to bind the fibre, give it a predictable slip for running on metal, standardise the level of hydration of the fibre, and give the textile more body. Most cloth and clothing has been sized and this leaves a residue which is removed in the first wash.

The sago starch is then either baked (resulting in a product analogous to bread or a pancake) or mixed with boiling water to form a kind of paste. Sago can be made into such as sago plum pudding, ground into a and used as a for other dishes, or used as a dense .

Sago (Metroxylon) is made through the following steps:

Preparation:

Sago can be stored for weeks or months, although it is generally eaten soon after it is processed.

One hundred grams of dry sago yields 100 calories, including an average of 94 grams of carbohydrate, 0.2 grams of protein, 0.5 grams of dietary fiber, 10mg of calcium, 1.2mg of iron, and negligible amounts of fat, carotene, thiamine, and ascorbic acid.

Sago flour (Metroxylon) is nearly pure carbohydrate and has very little protein, vitamins, or minerals. However, as sago palms are typically found in areas unsuited for other forms of agriculture, sago cultivation is often the most ecologically appropriate form of land-use, and the nutritional deficiencies of the food can often be compensated for with other readily available foods.

Nutrition:

Sago palms grow very quickly, up to 1.5m of vertical stem growth per year, in the fresh water swamps and lowlands in the tropics. The stems are thick and either self supporting or grow with a somewhat climbing habit. The leaves are , not . They are harvested at the age of 7 to 15 years just before they flower. They only flower and fruit once before they die. When harvested the stems are full of the stored starch which would otherwise be used for flowering and fruiting. The trunks are cut into sections and into halves and the starch is beaten or otherwise extracted from the "heartwood", and in some traditional methods it is collected when it settles out of water. One palm yields 150 to 300kg of starch.

Because sago flour made from Metroxylon is the most widely used form, this article discusses sago from Metroxylon unless otherwise specified.

Sago looks like and both are pearly grains of starch, but tapioca is made from the root of the plant. They are similar but are not identical when used in recipes.

Sago is a powdery starch made from the processed found inside the trunks of the Sago Palm . The genus name is derived from Greek and means heartwood, while the species name sagu is from a local name for the food. Sago forms a major for the lowland peoples of and the where it is often cooked and eaten as a form of pancake with fish.

Sago is a powdery starch made from the processed pith found inside the trunks of the Sago Palm Metroxylon sagu. Sago looks like