You may have encountered sago, tiny pearls that are boiled and served as a dessert or sweet snack (hello, bubble tea) in much of Asia, as well as in Brazil. These days, the vast majority of sago is made from tapioca, a root. But at Kanomwaan Pakee, a dessert shop in rural Phatthalung Province, they do things the old school way.

The headlining dessert here is saakuu ton, tiny pearls made from sago palms. The trees grow in the fecund, jungly countryside only a few miles away, and are transformed into pearls via a labor-intensive, time-consuming process. First, the woody core of the palms is grated to a powder. It's then soaked, strained, rolled by hand and dried in the sun. Finally, the pearls are boiled in water with sugar.