Palm flour jelly ball
Encyclopedia
Palm flour jelly balls, locally known as landang comes from Buli or Buri Tree (Corypha elata), a type of palm found in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and other tropical countries. This tree only flowers once in its life and then dies. At first glance, the palm flour jelly balls look like shrunken, flattened sago
Sago
Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...

. It is traditionally used in making binignit
Binignit
Binignit is a vegetable stew from the Visayas region in the Philippines. The dish is traditionally made by Cebuanos with slices of saba, taro, sweet potato. The people in the neighboring island Leyte, usually include landang , langka , anise and thickened with milled glutinous rice in cooking...

 in the Visayan region of the Philippines.

Preparation

The process is very similar in making sago
Sago
Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...

. First, the buli palm is felled. The hard core can be reached by breaking the trunk open. The hard core is chopped into fragments that should be dried perfectly and hand crushed into powder form thereby turning it into flour. This process requires several rounds of pounding. This is then mixed with water to form the product. It can be stored for weeks or a few months.

Uses

Palm flour jelly balls are very essential in making the traditional Visayan binignit
Binignit
Binignit is a vegetable stew from the Visayas region in the Philippines. The dish is traditionally made by Cebuanos with slices of saba, taro, sweet potato. The people in the neighboring island Leyte, usually include landang , langka , anise and thickened with milled glutinous rice in cooking...

 or vegetable stew usually eaten during the Lenten season in the Philippines when almost everyone is fasting.

Botany

This type of palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

 is usually found in tropical areas of South Central Asia particularly in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 thru the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 and some parts of northern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It would grow on different soil types and may reach 20 meters high and would bear up to a million flowers. It is one of the largest palms. It is slow growing and doesn't want to be disturbed once planted. It would require an abundance of sunlight and lots of water. Like all the Corypha family, it only flowers once during maturity and dies after.
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