Inspired by Ging's Post today!

Hi Ging, instead of posting this as a comment in your blogspot today (www.doctorging.blogspot.com), i opted to put it here. The picture of the fruits you thought to be kaong really looks like the nipa palm fruits. I tried to put the mature nipa fruit bunch picture here. I got it near the tarsier sanctuary in Loboc, Bohol. Actually, they said that there are two kinds of nipa, the saltwater and the freshwater nipa. In Bohol, they call the freshwater nipa as 'saksak', while in Tagalog we call all the nipa as 'sasa'. Sorry Wico, i did not check the correct usage, as i was in a hurry to post this.

About the kaong (sugar palm) plant (Arenga pinnata), it is very common in colder mountainous areas like Batangas and Mt Banahao slopes in Quezon, and i suppose in Mindanao forests near streams. They are normally in dipterocarp forests. I am very familiar with kaong plants, which we call 'irok' in the Batangas-Cavite area. The kaong midrib makes very good quality broom or 'walis tingting', better than the coconut midrib or the 'dumayaka' palm. (Sorry again Wico, i dont know the scientific name nor the common name). Kaong bunches are unique because the younger ones commonly emerge from the older portion of the trunk below the older bunches. This is unlike other palms which produce new flower spikes above the old ones.

Kaong fruits are processed to be bottled kaong sweets in Quezon and Cavite. I think Leony is very familiar with this as she has a project on kaong processing. It is very difficult because of the itchy sap of the husk which is very bad for those who attempt to do it without knowing how.