SAGO SOUP.
152. INGREDIENTS.—5 oz. of sago, 2 quarts of stock No. 105.
Mode.—Wash the sago in boiling water, and add it, by degrees, to the boiling stock, and simmer till the sago is entirely dissolved, and forms a sort of jelly.
Time.—Nearly an hour. Average cost, 10d. per quart.
Sufficient for 8 persons.
Seasonable all the year.
Note.—The yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with a little cream, previously boiled, and added at the moment of serving, much improves this soup.
[Illustration: SAGO PALM.]
SAGO.—The farinaceous food of this name constitutes the pith of the SAGO tree (the Sagus farinifera of Linnaeus), which grows spontaneously in the East Indies and in the archipelago of the Indian Ocean. There it forms the principal farinaceous diet of the inhabitants. In order to procure it, the tree is felled and sawn in pieces. The pith is then taken out, and put in receptacles of cold water, where it is stirred until the flour separates from the filaments, and sinks to the bottom, where it is suffered to remain until the water is poured off, when it is taken out and spread on wicker frames to dry. To give it the round granular form in which we find it come to this country, it is passed through a colander, then rubbed into little balls, and dried. The tree is not fit for felling until it has attained a growth of seven years, when a single trunk will yield 600 lbs. weight; and, as an acre of ground will grow 430 of these trees, a large return of flour is the result. The best quality has a slightly reddish hue, and easily dissolves to a jelly, in hot water. As a restorative diet, it is much used.