Rest of ASIA: Preparation and Uses of Cycads

Young leaves are eaten in the following countries: Malaysia, Phillipines, Assam Indonesia, Ceylon, Japan

Cooked seeds are eaten on Andaman, Aru and Kei Islands, and Fiji

In the Nicobar Islands the seeds made into a paste which is baked into cakes.

Moluccas - the seeds are choppped and steeped in sea water 24 hours and then steamed with coconut and sugar to form a porridge.

India - The seeds are sun dried for 1 month and then ground into to a flour.

Ryukyus - The Okinawans use the seeds to make flour and sake. Cycas revoluta stems are debarked and cut up and then dried in the sun and allowed to ferment. This is washed with water and the starch is extracted from the wash water.

Guam - Cycas micronesica (treated in earlier literature as Cycas circinalis) is used extensively for food known as fadang/federico. To prepare, the seeds are washed and soaked. Then they are dried and ground to make flour for soup thickening or baked and used for tortillas.

Japan - In the past cycads were a such a highly regarded food source that it was forbidden for them to be exported (Thierret 1958).