SAGO, a food-starch prepared from a deposit in the trunk of several palms, the principal source being the sago palms (Metro xylon Rumphii and M. laeve), a native of the East Indian archi pelago, the sago forests being especially extensive in the island of Ceram. The trees flourish only in low marshy situations, seldom attaining a height of 3o ft., with a thick-set trunk. They attain maturity and produce an inflorescence (flower spike) at the age of 15 years, when the enormous pith of the stem is gorged with starch. If the fruit is allowed to form and ripen, the whole of this starchy core material passes into the developing fruits, leaving the stem a mere hollow shell; and the tree after ripening its fruit dies.
Accordingly the palms are cut down directly the inflorescence appears, the stems divided into sections and split up, and the starchy pith extracted and grated to a powder. The powder is then kneaded with water over a strainer, through which the starch passes, leaving the woody fibre behind. The starch settles in the
bottom of a trough, in which it is floated, and after one or two washings is fit for use by the natives for cakes and soups. That intended for exportation is mixed into a paste with water and rubbed through sieves into small grains, from the size of a cori ander seed and larger, whence it is known according to size as pearl sago, bullet sago, etc. A large proportion of the sago imported into Europe comes from Borneo, and the increasing demand has led to a large extension of sago-palm planting.
Sago is also obtained from various other East Indian palms such as the Gomuti palm (Arenga saccharifera), the Kittul palm (Caryota urens) , the cabbage palm (Corypha umbraculif era), besides Corypha Gebagan, Raphia flabelliformis and Phoenix fari nifera, also from Mauritia flexuosa and Guilielma speciosa, two South American species. It is also obtained from the pith of species of Cycas.