AY Honors/Palm Trees/Answer Key
- This is about the part of plant. For more about the mining disaster, see 2006 Sago Mine disaster.
Sago is the pith found inside the stems of some cycad plants of the genus Cycas, the most notable being Cycas revoluta.
Culinary Use
The pith is first ground to a coarse flour, washed carefully to leach out natural toxins, then dried and cooked to become a starchy granular fecula. It is very similar to tapioca and is used for many of the same purposes. Sago forms part of the staple diet of the lowlands of New Guinea and the Moluccas.
Sago can be made into steamed puddings such as sago plum pudding, ground into a powder and used as a thickener for other dishes, or used as a dense glutinous flour.
In India pearl sago (a form of sago) is called Sabudana, and is used in a variety of dishes including khichdi, wafers and puddings.
Botany
The Sago Cycad or "Sago Palm" is a slow-growing ornamental plant.
In Tamil it is called 'Javvarissi' 'Javvu' means rubbery and 'arissi' means rice. The name came about because it looks like rice(though rounded) but feels sticky when one chews on it when it is raw.
