Gula Jawa
It's True Love. Outside of rice, there is nothing more productive than palms in these parts. It many uses include sago starch, the cottage industry derived from the coconut fruit, cooking oil, spirits, areca for betel chewing, cosmetics, multitudes of building material, animal fodder, medicine, fertilizer, candy, rattan wood, leave wrappers, ropes and of course....palm sugar!! This is the industrial product du jour in these parts....the oil, steel, concrete and agro-business of the pre-industrial world.
The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hos... ... read more 
