Sago pancake. Sago is often produced commercially in the form of "pearls" (small rounded starch aggregates, partly gelatinized by heating). Sago pearls can be boiled with water or milk and sugar to make a sweet sago pudding. Sago pearls are similar in appearance to the pearled starches of other origin, e.g. cassava starch (tapioca) and potato starch, and they may be used interchangeably in some dishes. The name "sago" is also sometimes used for starch extracted from other sources, especially the sago cycad, "Cycas revoluta". The sago cycad is also commonly known (confusingly) as the sago palm, although this is a
Sago Lane textile starch and hospital food. After processing, it was mostly re-exported to Europe and India. Sago became a staple export item for Singapore in 1834. In 1849, there were 15 Chinese and 2 European Sago factories in the area.Sago lane and Sago street became a prosperous manufacturing centre. During the 1850s, there were thirty sago factories in the town which had a total output of 8,000 tons annually. Many of the sago factories were in the Sago Street area. Sago lane in particular, was occupied by the Cantonese. Many of these factory workers lived in the area of these factories,