Purpose : To inform
Thesis statement : Sago tree has benefits for foods, building materials, home decorations and biofuel.
Introduction
Outline
Body
I. For foods
A. Staple
B. Snacks
C. Noodle
II. For building materials
A. Foundation
B. Roof
C. Floor
D. Wall
III. For home decorations
IV. For biofuel
A. Charcoal briquette
B. Bioethanol
Conclusion
Many people just know that sago tree or “rumbia” is a tree which can produce sago flour to make some foods. Sago flour has similar physical characteristics with tapioca flour. It is staple for people who live in Moluccas and Papua. In fact, it is not only for making flour, but also for making many things. Sago tree has benefits for foods, building materials, home decorations and biofuel.
As we know, we can use sago tree to make foods. They are made of its pith, the inside part of a sago tree’s stem. Pith fragments can be processed to get starch or sago flour. And then, this sago flour can be made to become several kinds of food such as staple, snacks and noodle. Those who live in Papua and Moluccas use sago flour to make their staple. They make “papeda” or porridge of sago flour. It is usually served with yellow gravy made of tuna fish with turmeric and calamondin. Besides, we can also use sago flour to make snacks. Many people make cookies like “sagon keju”, “cireng”, cakes and pancake of sago flour. We can also make noodle like transparent vermicelli of it. All foods made of sago flour are good for health. It does not cause overweight, is good for diet, can prevent intestine cancer, lung cancer and constipation, and is also good for autistic children and diabetics.
Sago tree also has benefits for building materials. For those who live in Ambon and Moluccas, sago tree is commonly used to build a house. They can make a strong pillar for a house foundation from its stem. They can also make roof from sago leaf arrangement that is piled up orderly. It can protect them from sunbeam and rain. To get natural and comfortable floor, they can exploit its bark. And if they want to build a strong wall, they can use the branches of sago tree. So they never get confused to get building materials for their house. Nowadays, we can only see this traditional house in small islands around Ambon Island.
At present, there are some fully creative persons that can transform the waste of sago tree to home decorations. Fabiola Soukotta (42) is a handicraft artist who transforms several kinds of sago tree waste from its stem, seed, flower, and “gaba-gaba”. She proceeds them to become picture frames, mural, vases, curtains, wardrobe and also dry flowers. She makes dry flowers and flower imitation from “gaba-gaba”, and she transforms seed and flower of sago tree to make it more beautiful. They function as pollen and pistil on a real flower.
The waste of sago tree can also be exchanged into biofuel. We can produce charcoal briquette as biofuel and it substitutes for fossil fuel. To get this biofuel, we must dry the waste under sunbeam and burn it until it becomes sago waste charcoal powder. And then, this material is mixed with tapioca powder, so that it will not crack or shatter in printing process. Besides charcoal briquette, we can also process sago into another biofuel, bioethanol. It is made of vegetable oil that has a similar characteristics with “premium” oil. So it does the duty off “premium”.
In summary, sago tree has more benefits. Many parts of the tree, such as leaves, stem, pith, bark, branches, seed, flowers and even its waste can be processed to become advantageous products. And from those parts, we can make building materials, home decorations and biofuel besides foods. So this is the time for us to explore more benefits from sago tree without polluting our environment with its waste.
References:
· Jelajah, Trans TV
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