Talk:Metroxylon sagu

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Food and drink Mid‑importance

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I would like to add considerably to this article, having grown up in sago producing areas of Papua New Guinea, but I lack the technical terminology. The photo is pitiful on portraying the palm tree - it looks like a few plants just beginning to grow! How about a photo of a fullgrown sago palm of this species? The article makes no mention of the fact that sago trunks (or stems?), and the branches/fronds underside being covered with long extrememly sharp spines, which are very brittle. If they pierce the skin, they break off readily, and appear to have some kind of irritant or toxin. It is one of the hazards of "sago making". As for its food use, the mention of Sepik sago cakes is minimalist. It is the staple food in the entire Gulf Province and Western Province of Papua, growing along the Oriomo, Fly, Bamu, Aramia, Turama, Paibuna, Omati, Kikori, Era, Paia, Purari and Vailala rivers, and probably further east in the Kerema and Malalaua areas. The famous Hiri trade cycle of the Motuan people was founded on the sago trade from the Gulf of Papua to the Port Moresby region.

In these regions at least, it is normally cooked in a bamboo tube or in a sago leaflet roll (pinned with bits of sago "bark" (from the fronds)), and roasted/baked over hot coals. People often include fish, young crocodiles or other small game in the roll, cooked together. After cooking, depending on consistency and length of time, it can resemble a chalky stick, a rubbery stick or a combination of both.

As to production, it seems a misnoner to say that "starch kernels" are washed out - what is washed out is starch sediment, which settles in a trough after being carried by water, which drains off. "Kernels" implies a seed or some such - which would be erroneous. More could be said on how it is made - a process I have observed and participated in numerous times. Ptilinopus (talk) 08:11, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]