SAGO

is the starch found in large quantities in the trunks of several varieties of tropical palms, from six hundred to eight hundred pounds being not infrequently obtained from a single tree. The palm is cut down just after it reaches maturity--when from ten to fifteen years old, according to the climate and other circumstances--and the pith is put through crushing and washing processes; the sago thus freed being then dried by evaporation, passed through colanders and rubbed or granulated into the little pellets familiar to commerce.

Sago is valuable as a food item, being both cheap and nutritious. It is especially pleasing prepared in the same way as rice pudding.