Landang is a processed
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...
product extracted from the inner trunk of the ''buli'' or ''buri'' tree
[
] (''
Corypha''), a type of
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
** List of Arecaceae genera
**Palm oil
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music ...
native to the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
and other tropical countries. This tree only flowers once in its life and then dies. Landang is visually similar to shrunken, flattened
sago
Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...
. It is traditionally used in making ''
binignit
Binignit is a Visayan dessert soup from the central Philippines. The dish is traditionally made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk with various slices of sabá bananas, taro, ube, and sweet potato, among other ingredients. It is co ...
'' in the Visayas.
Preparation
The process is very similar in making
sago
Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...
. 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
Landang is essential in making the traditional Visayan binignit, a sweet rootcrop and banana stewed in
coconut milk
Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...
and
brown sugar
Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...
, usually eaten during the
Lenten
Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthe ...
season in the Philippines when almost everyone is fasting.
Botany
Buli is a type of
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
** List of Arecaceae genera
**Palm oil
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music ...
is usually found in tropical areas of South Central Asia particularly in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
through the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
and some parts of northern
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. 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 much water. Like all the Corypha family,
it only flowers once during maturity and dies after.
See also
*
Tapioca pearl
A tapioca pearl, also known as tapioca ball, is an edible translucent sphere produced from tapioca, a starch made from the cassava root
. They originated as a cheaper alternative to sago in Southeast Asian cuisine. When used as an ingredient in ...
*
Agar
Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from " ogonori" and " tengusa". As found in nature, agar is a mixture of two components, t ...
*
Filipino cuisine
Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippines, Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that comp ...
**
List of Philippine desserts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landang
Filipino cuisine
Food ingredients