Sago

A food starch prepared from carbohydrate material stored in the trunks of several palms, native from Indonesia to Samoa. This starch can be washed out from the chopped pith of felled trees, and then cooked into porridge or cakes. Sago was utilized and traded widely around coastal New Guinea and the Mouccas Islands. Sago starch was important in early diets in equatorial Indonesia and Melanesia.

The sago palm (Metroxylon sp.) stores large amounts of starch in its trunk prior to flowering. This starch can be washed out from the chopped pith of felled trees, and then cooked into porridge or cakes. Sago was utilized and traded widely around coastal New Guinea and the Moluccas Islands; the palms are native to the area from Indonesia through to Samoa. Sago starch was of undoubted importance in early diets in equatorial Indonesia and Melanesia, but the antiquity of its usage remains unknown.