• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

CooksInfo

  • Home
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Recipes
  • Food Calendar
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Food Calendar
×
Home » Meat » Insects » Sago Grubs

Sago Grubs

Sago Grubs are the larvae of a beetle called the “Capricorn Beetle (Rhynchophorus ferrungineus or Rhynchophorus bilineatus.) The grubs are about 1 ½ inches (4 cm) long, white and plump, with a dark brown head. They are juicy and burst in your mouth when you bite into them.

They are eaten in Papua New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.

The beetles only lay eggs in damaged Sago palms. Sago Grubs can be “farmed” by cutting down Sago palms, laying the trunks flat on the ground, and making holes in the trunks to make it easy for the beetles to enter and lay their eggs in the starchy pith inside. In about 6 weeks, the larvae will be large and plump enough to harvest — if left much longer, they may go into cocoons woven from the fibres in the pith and start to transform into beetles.

The tree trunks are cut up to expose the grubs for collection. Each palm trunk will yield about 100 grubs. You can use the leaves of the palm to wrap your harvest in and take them home.

You can also buy Sago Grubs in markets.

Sago Grubs can be eaten raw, steamed wrapped in sago palm leaves or roasted. They taste a bit like snail and oysters combined with a bland vegetable taste. Much of the taste actually comes from the cooking method — they can taste more meaty if fried in an oil or bacon fat. They can also be smoked or fried. To roast them, just make a kabob of them on a skewer and hold over the fire.

You don’t eat the head. You pick a Sago Grub up by its head, and then holding the head, put it into your mouth and bite down to bite the head off. You discard the head.

Sago Grubs are served at many festive occasions.

This page first published: Jun 29, 2005 · Updated: Jun 12, 2018.

This web site generates income from affiliated links and ads at no cost to you to fund continued research · Information on this site is Copyright © 2023· Feel free to cite correctly, but copying whole pages for your website is content theft and will be DCMA'd.

Tagged With: Indonesian Food

Primary Sidebar

Search

    Today is

  • Oak Apple Day
    Oak apples
  • End of the Middle Ages Day
    Castle ruin

Hi, I'm Skylar! This is a fake profile talking about how I switched to a paleo diet and it helped my eczema and I grew 4". Trust me, I'm an online doctor.

More about me →

Popular

  • E.D. Smith Pumpkin Purée
    E.D. Smith recipe for pumpkin pie
  • Libby's Pumpkin Pie
    Libby’s recipe for pumpkin pie
  • Pie crust
    Pie Crust Recipe
  • Smokey Maple Pepper Glaze for Ham
    Smokey Maple Pepper Glaze for Ham

You can duplicate your homepage's trending recipes section in the sidebar to reinforce the internal linking.

We no longer recommend using a search bar, newsletter form or category drop-down menu in the sidebar. See the Modern Sidebar post for details.

If the block editor is not narrower than usual, simply save the page and refresh it.

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About this site
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright enforced!
  • Terms & Conditions

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Site

  • Recipes
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Food Calendar

This web site generates income from affiliated links and ads at no cost to you to fund continued research · The text on this site is © Copyright.