Sago (tapioca or pearl balls)
April 23, 2005
Filed under Drinks
The recent craze is to serve the humble sago (tapioca or pearl balls) with milk and powdered artificial flavoring. I am not exactly into artificial flavoring especially the ones with artificial sweeteners. They always leave a nasty aftertaste. What I did earlier today was to make some sago drinks the traditional way. Well, almost the traditional way. This is the kind of drinks sold by ambulant vendors most everywhere in the Philippines.


My 12-year-old daughter cooked the sago yesterday. The left photo shows the cooked and uncooked sago. Uncooked sago can be bought in most supermarkets. They come in different sizes and colors. My daughter actually concocted her own sago drinks yesterday afternoon using condensed milk and drops of food color. She gave me a glass of sago in a milky blue liquid. Well, she has her own food and photo blog and her concoctions are for her to publish. I’ll just put up the links when she says she’s ready to go public.
Anyway, to make the traditional sago drinks, you just need cooked sago, cold water, crushed ice and molasses. The old-fashioned way is to use melted arnibal or blocks of raw sugar. Using arnibal does impart a more natural flavor but I don’t like the sediments that come with it so I used bottled molasses. Just place a few tablespoonfuls of cooked sago in a class add some cold water, sweeten with molasses and top with some crushed ice. Great way to feel refreshed in the tropical summer heat.
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Where can I buy the molasses?
Supermarket, Lilia. Baking section.
Hello!
I am the art/ editorial director for Mango Street in Cebu. We are a new magazine going into
our 2nd month January 2006. I want to publish your daughters recipes for her
special Sago for our Dining and Bites section! We will completely credit her and she
can send us contributing photos and a story if she wants.
Let me know ASAP, as we need are finalizing the issue for January. If anything, she
be in February’s issue.
Thank you,
Cyndi Garcia-Mango Street
Cyndi, you mean the “blue” sago drink? Am not so sure if she kept the photos. I’ll have to ask her though and e-mail you.
hi.. can you please include instructions on how to cook the sago. thanks!
HI thanks for the Sago Idea, I want to know how to cook too!!
I tried a lot of times but doesnt look that good like your daughter.
i would like to know what sago is made of and how to make it also…and if i can ask any recipe on how to make halo-halo…thank you so much…
Hi., could you please give me some instructions on how to make the filipino sago the traditional way., kind of like how they sell it on the street vendors. Thanks!