Sago

Sago is a tasteless thickening agent of granulated starch.

As the product is offered in fine balls of about 1 mm to 3 mm in diameter, it is called also pearl sago. Sago is used to thicken soups and for making sweet fruit Groat, cold soups and puddings.

Originally Sago was from the pith of the sago palm ( Metroxylon sagu ), for example by M. laeve and M. rumphii, won today also from root tubers of other tropical plants, such as cassava. The name Metroxylon rumphii derives from Georg Eberhard Rumpf, called Rumphius (1628-1702), who was born in Hanau in Dutch services worked among other things as governor and naturalist and Metroxylon first described botanically. Also, some species of cycads, especially in the genus Cycas, as C. circinalis and C. revoluta, are suppliers of sago. However, all Palmfarnarten are protected plants on the CITES list.

The Papuan Sago name means something like bread, because the strength of the sago palm supplies on many islands in the flour for bread and cakes. Marco Polo brought the first sago in 1280 to Europe. He told of the sago palm and its significance as an important source of nutrition. In the 16th century, the Portuguese brought Sago first time in the trade. Today Sago is an important export products, especially for Singapore.

The extraction of sago can be done in two ways. One possibility is the scoring of the strains in which the leaking thick sap is collected and removed by screens. This gives rise to the balls that need to dry out completely hard before they can be used. It is also possible to produce sago from the felled trees. For this, the Mark lying beneath the bark is coarsely grated and mashed with the addition of water until dissolves the starch contained. This sago flour is first dried and then mixed with water. The resulting slurry is then also removed through sieves to obtain the balls. This starch granules is particularly well suited for export.

This type of synthesis is also possible with starch from other plants. In Germany Sago is often made from potato starch since about 1810. Today, a variant of cassava especially in Indian and Thai cuisine is widespread, as in West Africa. In the Orinoco River Delta in Venezuela, the indigenous Warao Indians win sago flour from the moriche palm ( Mauritia flexuosa ).

In the dry state Sagokugeln are white, when soaked in water they become soft and transparent. If sago soaked or cooked too long, it will be mushy. To thicken the food is only so Sago cooked until it is soft but still spherical.