cassava

1. A shrubby tropical American plant (Manihot esculenta) widely grown for its large, tuberous, starchy roots.
2. The root of this plant, eaten as a staple food in the tropics only after leaching and drying to remove cyanide. Cassava starch is also the source of tapioca.

[Ultimately from Taino casavi, flour from manioc.]

The plant Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae), also called manioc. It is one of the 10 most important food plants, and the most important starchy root or tuber of the tropics. It originated in Central or South America, possibly Brazil, and was domesticated and widely distributed well before the time of Columbus. Subsequent distribution has established cassava as a major crop in eastern and western Africa, in India, and in Indonesia.

The cassava plant is a slightly woody, perennial shrub. The leaves are deeply palmately lobed; the flowers are inconspicuous, and the prominent capsules are three-seeded and explosive at maturity. The roots (see illustration) are enlarged by the deposition of starch and constitute the principal source of food from the plant. The leaves are also eaten (after cooking), and are noteworthy for their high protein content.

Tuberous roots from a single cassava plant.

The chief use of cassava is as a boiled vegetable. It is also a source of flour, called farinha in Brazil and gari in western Africa, and of toasted starch granules, the familiar tapioca. In spite of its popularity, however, cassava root is a poor food. Its protein content is extremely low, and its consumption as a staple food is associated with the protein deficiency disease kwashiorkor. See also Geraniales.

Recipe origin: Cuba

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 yucca (cassavas), peeled and halved
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ½ cup olive oil

Procedure

1. Scrape the peel from the yucca, and cut the yucca into pieces. Boil yucca in salted water until tender (about 25 minutes).
2. Drain yucca and add garlic and lemon juice.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan until bubbling, then pour over yucca. Mix well and serve.

Serves 4.

The tuber of the tropical plant Manihot utilissima. It is the dietary staple in many tropical countries, although it is an extremely poor source of protein; the plant grows well even in poor soil, and is extremely hardy, withstanding considerable drought; introduced into Africa by slave ships returning from Brazil in 1569. It is one of the most prolific crops, yielding, up to 13 million kcal/acre, compared with yam, 9 million, and sorghum or maize, 1 million. A 150-g portion is a rich source of vitamin C; a source of iron and vitamin B₁; supplies 150 kcal (600 kJ).

Cassava root contains cyanide, and before it can be eaten it must be grated and left in the open to allow the cyanide to evaporate. The leaves can be eaten as a vegetable, and the tuber is the source of tapioca. See also cassareep.

[kuh-SAH-vuh] Though native to South America, the majority of cassava now comes from Africa, where it's an important staple. Also called manioc and yuca, the cassava is a root that ranges from 6 to 12 inches in length and from 2 to 3 inches in diameter. It has a tough brown skin which, when peeled, reveals a crisp, white flesh. There are many varieties of cassava but only two main categories, sweet and bitter. The bitter cassava is poisonous unless cooked. Cassava is available year-round in Caribbean and Latin American markets. It should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 4 days. Grated, sun-dried cassava is called cassava meal. Cassava is also used to make cassareep and tapioca.

For more information on cassava, visit Britannica.com.

Cassava, or manioc (Manihot esculenta), is a root crop native to tropical America that is now consumed by millions of people throughout the tropics, and is used in food preparation in many industrialized processes. Although it is not well known outside the tropics, cassava now accounts for about 30 percent of the world production of roots and tubers. It is an exceptional producer of carbohydrates and a plant better able to tolerate seasonal drought than other major food crops.

Plant Biology

The cassava plant is a perennial woody shrub that grows from about one to three meters in height. The leaves are palmate (hand-shaped) and dark green in color. The cone-shaped roots are starch storage organs covered with a papery bark and a pink to white cortex. The flesh ranges from bright white to soft yellow. Over five thousand varieties of cassava are known, each of which has its own distinctive qualities and is adapted to different environmental conditions.

The cassava plant is hardy and better able to tolerate drought and poor soil conditions than most other food plants. It can grow in extremely poor, acidic soils because it forms a symbiotic association with soil fungi (mycorrhizae). It is also one of the most productive food plants in terms of carbohydrate production per unit of land, and unequalled in its ability to recover when foliage is lost or damaged by diseases or pests.

The cassava plant is somewhat unusual, and even infamous, because both the roots and leaves can be toxic to consume. The toxicity of cassava is due to the presence of cyanogenic glucosides (compounds of cyanide and glucose) which liberate hydrogen cyanide (HCN) ), a potent toxin, when the plant tissue is damaged. Cyanogenic glucosides are found throughout the plant and in all varieties of cassava. Varieties referred to as "sweet," or low-cyanide, have low levels of cyanogenic glucosides in the flesh of the root and can be peeled and cooked like other root vegetables. Those referred to as "bitter," or high-cyanide, have higher levels of cyanogenic glucosides throughout the root (peel and flesh) and require more extensive processing before they are safe to consume. A number of different processing techniques are used (grating, fermenting, sun drying), all of which serve to damage the plant tissue and hence cause the liberation and volitalization of HCN. The potential toxicity of cassava foods depends on the effectiveness of processing and preparation techniques; high-cyanide roots can be processed to remove all most all traces of cyanide-containing compounds. Many farmers prefer to cultivate the high-cyanide varieties for reasons that are not entirely clear.

History

Cassava was domesticated sometime in the distant past, maybe five thousand years ago. Exactly where is not known, but the current consensus is that domestication took place somewhere in Central or South America, perhaps along the southern border of Brazil, where wild relatives of cassava are currently found.

Cassava was the staple crop of the Amerindians of South America when the Portuguese arrived in 1500 just south of what is known as Bahia, Brazil. The Amerindians living in the area were the Tupinamba, who relied on cassava as a dietary staple, processing it into bread and meal using techniques similar to those still used by Amerindians in the twenty-first century.

When the Portuguese began to import slaves from Africa in about 1550, they used cassava in the form of meal (farinha) to provision their ships and began cultivating cassava at their stations along the coast of West Africa soon afterward. From their stations near the mouth of the Congo River, cassava diffused to all of central Africa. The Portuguese were also responsible for introducing cassava to East Africa, Madagascar, India, Ceylon, Malaya, and Indonesia by the 1700s.

Cassava was probably first introduced into Asia during Spanish occupation of the Philippines and was distributed throughout tropical Asia by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Expansion of cassava cultivation was pushed by colonial administrators who saw cassava as a famine reserve (especially the Dutch in Java, and the British in India), and as an export commodity (Malaya and Java in the 1850s).

Procurement and Production

Cassava is typically grown by small-scale farmers using traditional methods, and farming on marginal lands not well suited to other crops. It is propagated by planting stakes cut from the woody stems of mature plants. These plantings require adequate moisture during the first two to three months, but after that they are relatively drought resistant. Cassava roots mature to harvestable size in six to twelve months depending on variety and ecological conditions, and can be harvested at any time in the following two years, a harvest window that provides farmers an unusual degree of flexibility. To harvest the plants, farmers typically cut off the top three-quarters of the plant, and then pull up the roots and separate them from one another. Mechanical harvesting is still relatively rare.

Because fresh cassava roots deteriorate rapidly (within three to four days) after harvesting, they are usually consumed immediately or processed into a form that has better storage characteristics. Fresh roots (low-cyanide) destined for distant markets can be sealed in wax, packaged in plastic bags, or frozen to prevent deterioration. Leaves can be harvested at any stage of the growth of the plant, but typically only the youngest leaves are picked. The leaves deteriorate rapidly after harvesting and so are generally cooked the same day.

Cassava Foods

Cassava roots are prepared into an amazing variety of foods. Traditional preparation techniques vary by region, and by ethnic group within a given region.

South America. For Amerindians, the most common ways of preparing high-cyanide cassava were as a bread (casabe, cazabe, beiju), a roasted granular meal (fariña, farinha), and as a beer (chicha). In the northwest Amazon the bread is a large, thick (one inch or more) flat bread made by peeling and grating the roots, and then sieving the grated mash with water to separate the liquids and starch from the more fibrous portion. The starch is allowed to settle, and the liquids decanted off the top, then boiled to make a drink (manicuera). The starch and fibrous portion of the roots are stored separately and allowed to ferment for forty-eight hours before being dewatered, and then recombined and baked on a large clay griddle. In Venezuela and Guyana the bread is a thinner, hardtack-like bread made without the starch extraction step.

Farinha is made by soaking the roots of yellow-fleshed, high-cyanide varieties in water until they ferment. The roots are then peeled, grated, mixed with fresh grated roots and the mixture allowed to ferment for a week or more. The mash is then dewatered, sprinkled onto a hot griddle, and roasted while being stirred. The resulting product is a dry granular meal that can be stored almost indefinitely. It is most commonly consumed as chive, a drink that is made by putting a handful of meal in water and swirling to mix. Well-made meal can expand five times in volume and results in a full feeling.

Chicha, a mildly alcoholic beer, is made from both low-cyanide and high-cyanide cassava. With low-cyanide varieties it is prepared by peeling, cooking, and mashing the roots, then adding water and some masticated roots and allowing the mixture to ferment. With high-cyanide varieties it is prepared from manicuera (the cooked juices) and a very thin bread, some of which is masticated, and other cooked roots or tubers.

In the national cuisines of South America, low-cyanide cassava is used as a vegetable (boiled, or boiled and fried). In Brazil, farinha is part of a number of traditional dishes, and in Colombia several breads are made with the fermented starch of high-cyanide cassava.

Africa. Cassava is the second most important food crop in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the cassava-based foods made in Africa rely on fermentation in one form or another. Two common products are gari, a granular meal similar to farinha, and fufu, a sticky dough made by pounding cooked or fermented roots into a paste. Other products include chikwange or baton de manioc, a steamed/boiled paste made from soaked roots, and lafun, a flour made from soaked roots.

Asia. Cassava roots are prepared in most Asian countries by boiling, baking, and frying. Another widespread practice is to peel, slice, and sun dry the roots and then grind them into a flour. The flour is then used to make porridge, or other traditional foods like chappatis and dosas (India), bibingka (Philippines), and a rice-like product called landong (Philippines). Commercially produced cassava starch is exported as tapioca.

South Pacific. Boiling and baking are the most common techniques for preparing cassava roots. On some islands cassava is also used to prepare ma, a traditional fermented product typically made from breadfruit.

North America and Europe. The pure starch, or tapioca, extracted from cassava roots is commercially available as a flour, flakes, or pellets (pearls) and is used to thicken a wide variety of food products such as sauces, gravies, pie fillings, pudding, and baby foods. The well-known dessert tapioca pudding is made with the pearls, which become gelatinous, semi-transparent balls in the finished product, affectionately referred to as "frog spawn" by British schoolchildren.

Relations to Human Biology

Fresh peeled cassava roots are rich in carbohydrate (30–35 percent), and low in protein (1–2 percent) and fat (less than 1 percent). They have nutritionally significant amounts of calcium (50 mg/100g), phosphorous (40 mg/ 100g) and vitamin C (25 mg/100g). The quality of the protein is relatively good, and the starch is highly digestible. Fresh cassava leaves are a good source of protein (23 percent), vitamins, and minerals.

The cyanide-generating potential of cassava roots and leaves has been of considerable concern. Although traditional methods of processing are effective in reducing cyanide content to innocuous levels, inadequate processing, as sometimes occurs during famine and periods of social upheaval, or the rush to market, can lead to health problems, particularly cyanide poisoning.

In South America there is no evidence of acute or chronic cyanide toxicity associated with cassava consumption by Amerindians for whom cassava is a traditional dietary staple, even though some groups rely on varieties of cassava with a very high cyanide content. In other parts of the world, however, cassava consumption has been associated with cyanide toxicity and other disorders. Acute cyanide poisonings are relatively rare, but can be fatal. The cases typically involve the consumption of raw or inadequately processed cassava. The symptoms are dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

In Africa, cassava-based diets have been associated with two neurological disorders: tropical ataxic neuropathy (TAN) and konzo. Both occur among the rural poor on diets largely restricted to high-cyanide cassava. TAN is a disease characterized by ataxia (muscular incoordination), reduced sensory perception, and deafness. The onset is slow and the course progressive, and it is found primarily in adults over the age of forty. Konzo is a disease characterized by the sudden onset of spastic paralysis in both legs, which results in a slightly spastic gait in mild cases and a complete inability to walk in severe cases. It primarily affects children and women under forty, and tends to occur in areas under conditions of famine or near-famine when people have nothing to eat but cassava and their nutritional status is poor. Both of these disorders are relatively rare given the millions of people on cassava-based diets in Africa.

The cyanide found in cassava-based diets is metabolically detoxified to thiocyanate and therefore cassava consumers have higher than normal levels of thiocyanate in body fluids. This is thought to be beneficial in areas of West Africa where sickle-cell anemia is present because thiocyanate inhibits the tendency of hemoglobin molecules to sickle. It is problematic in areas of Africa where the dietary iodine intake is low because thiocyante blocks iodine uptake by the thyroid gland. In these areas, cassava consumption is associated with iodine deficiency disorders including goiter, cretinism, mild mental disorders, and other related conditions.

Cassava As a Symbol of Identity

Important food plants like cassava tend to be powerful symbols of social and cultural identity. These symbolic associations can be clearly seen in South America.

For the native people like the Tukanoan, cassava is one of the most important and highly valued foods, and is consumed with meals and most snacks. They believe that cassava was the first food; it was planted by the first woman to make bread for the first man. They consider the extracted starch, weta, to be the purest, whitest, and more nourishing of foods. The term weta also means the essence of something. For non-Indian subsistence farmers in the Amazon, farinha is an essential component of everyday meals and snacks, as well as an ingredient in special dishes. People will go to considerable trouble and expense to obtain it from the market when home-produced supplies run out because cassava is part of the fabric of everyday life, and consuming it part of their identity. In contrast, for Brazil's urban elite, farinha is only occasionally consumed as part of certain traditional dishes, and the everyday consumption of farinha is seen as a marker of lower class status and poverty.

Global and Contemporary

Cassava now provides about 30 percent of worldwide production of roots and tubers, and is the staple crop of over 200 million people in Africa alone. World production increased more than four-fold in the last two decades of the twentieth century, with most of this increase being in Africa. Cassava is a crop with enormous potential to provide food energy, and a crop that will play a particularly important role in areas like Africa where the production of adequate food is a serious challenge.

It is also a crop that has received relatively little attention from researchers in comparison to the dominant food crops of the green revolution—wheat, rice, and maize. However, efforts are underway to rectify the situation, and find ways to capitalize on cassava's strengths (high productivity, tolerance of poor soils and low rainfall, and relatively good resistance to pests and disease) and to improve its major shortcomings (rapid postharvest deterioration), and address its cyanide content. The following areas are particularly promising:

1. The use of microbial biotechnologies (technologies that utilize organisms like fungi and bacteria) to improve production and the processing of traditional products and to develop new products. Cassava production depends on soil mycorrhiza (fungi), and processing technologies depend on a variety of fungi (Aspergillus, Saccharomyces, and others), and bacteria (mostly Lactobacillus and Corynebacterium) to reduce toxicity, improve storage qualities, and achieve the desired taste and texture of cassava foods.
2. The use of micropropagation (culturing of tiny masses of dividing cells) for the exchange of varieties. This is particularly important for cassava because the plant is traditionally propagated from vegetative stakes that can transmit disease.
3. The use of genetic biotechnology for inserting new genetic material (DNA) into cassava varieties in order to improve quality and disease resistance.

Bibliography

Balagopalan, Cherukat, Gourikkutty Padmaja, Saroj K. Nanda, and Subramoney N. Moorthy. Cassava in Food, Feed, and Industry. CRC Press, Inc.: Boca Raton, Fla., 1988.

Cock, James H. Cassava: New Potential for a Neglected Crop. Boulder, Colo., and London: Westview Press, 1985.

Dufour, D. L. "The Bitter is Sweet: A Case Study of Bitter Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Use in Amazonia." In Food and Nutrition in the Tropical Forest: Biocultural Interactions. Edited by A. M. Hladik, A. Hladik, O. F. Linares, H. Pagezy, A. Semple, and M. Hadley. Man in the Biosphere, vol. 15, pp. 575–588. Paris: UNESCO and Parthenon Publishing, 1993.

Dufour, D. L. "Cassava in Amazonia: Lessons in Safety and Utilization from Native Peoples." Acta Horticulturae 375 (1994):175–182.

Dufour, D. L. "A Closer Look at the Nutritional Implications of Bitter Cassava Use." In Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia: An Ecological Anthropology of an Endangered World. Edited by Leslie E. Sponsel. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995.

Dufour, D. L. "Cyanide Content of Cassava (Manihot esculenta, Euphorbiaceae) Cultivars Used by Tukanoan Indians in Northwest Amazonia." Economic Botany 42 (1988): 255.

Dufour, D. L. "Effectiveness of Cassava Detoxification Techniques Used by Indigenous Peoples in Northwest Amazonia." Interciencia 14, no. 2 (1989): 86–91.

Jones, William O. Manioc in Africa. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1959.

Lancaster, P. A., J. S. Ingram, M. Y. Lim, and D. G. Coursey "Traditional Cassava-Based Foods: Survey of Processing Techniques." Economic Botany 36, no. 1 (1982): 12–45.

Wigg, David. The Quiet Revolutionaries: A Look at the Campaign by Agricultural Scientists to Hunger and How the Much-Needed Cassava Could Help. Washington, D. C.: The World Bank, 1993.

—Darna L. Dufour

"Yuca" redirects here. For other uses, see Yuca (disambiguation).

Cassava
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily:	Crotonoideae
Tribe:	Manihoteae
Genus:	Manihot
Species:	M. esculenta
Binomial name
Manihot esculenta Crantz

Look up Cassava in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta; also called yuca, yucca, or manioc) is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. The flour made of the roots is called tapioca.

Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world.^{[citation needed]}

The name "cassava" is sometimes spelled cassaba or cassada. ^[1]. In English language publications, the plant may be occasionally called by local names, such as mandioca, aipim, or macaxeira (Brazil), kassav (Haiti), mandi´o (Paraguay), akpu or ugburu (Nigeria), bankye(Twi-Speaking Ghana), mogo or mihogo (Swahili-speaking Africa), kappa (India), maniok (Sri Lanka), singkong (Indonesia), ubi kayu (Malaysia), kamoteng kahoy or balanghoy (Philippines), mushu (China), củ sắn or khoai mì (Vietnam), simal tarul (Darjeeling, Sikkim), and manioke or manioca (Polynesia) ^[2].

Contents 1 Description 2 History 3 Economic impact 4 Uses 4.1 Human food 4.2 Biofuel 4.3 Animal feed 4.4 Ethnomedicine 5 Food use processing and toxicity 6 Cassava farming 6.1 Harvesting 6.2 Postharvest handling and storage 6.3 Cassava pests 7 Notes 8 References

Description

Unprocessed cassava root

The cassava root is long and tapered, with a firm homogeneous flesh encased in a detachable rind, about 1 mm thick, rough and brown on the outside. Commercial varieties can be 5 to 10 cm in diameter at the top, and 50 to 80 cm long. A woody cordon runs along the root's axis. The flesh can be chalk-white or yellowish. Cassava roots are very rich in starch, and contain significant amounts of calcium (50 mg/100g), phosphorus (40 mg/100g) and vitamin C (25 mg/100g). However, they are poor in protein and other nutrients. In contrast, cassava leaves are a good source of protein if supplemented with the amino acid methionine despite containing cyanide.^{[citation needed]}

History

Yuca. Moche Culture. 100 A.D. Larco Museum Collection.

Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in west-central Brazil where it was likely first domesticated no more than 10,000 years BP.^[3] By 6,600 BC, manioc pollen appears in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, at the San Andres archaeological site.^[4] The oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a 1,400 year old Maya site, Joya de Cerén, in El Salvador.^[5] although the species Manihot esculenta likely originated further south in Brazil and Paraguay. With its high food potential, it had become a staple food of the native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean by the time of the Spanish conquest, and its cultivation was continued by the colonial Portuguese and Spanish. Forms of the modern domesticated species can be found growing in the wild in the south of Brazil. While there are several wild Manihot species, all varieties of M. esculenta are cultigens.

Cassava was a staple food for pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas, and is often portrayed in indigenous art. The Moche people often depicted yuca in their ceramics.^[6]

Economic impact

Cassava output in 2005

World production of cassava root was estimated to be 184 million tonnes in 2002. The majority of production is in Africa where 99.1 million tonnes were grown. 51.5 million tonnes were grown in Asia and 33.2 million tonnes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava. However, based on the statistics from the FAO of the United Nations, Thailand is the largest exporting country of dried cassava with a total of 77% of world export in 2005. The second largest exporting country is Vietnam, with 13.6%, followed by Indonesia (5.8%) and Costa Rica (2.1%). World-wide cassava production increased by 12.5% between 1988 and 1990.^{[citation needed]}

Cassava, together with yams (Dioscorea sp.) and sweet potatoes (Ipomea batatas) are important sources of food in the tropics. The cassava plant gives the highest yield of food energy per cultivated area per day among crop plants, except possibly for sugarcane^{[citation needed]}. Cassava plays a particularly important role in developing countries’ farming—especially in sub-Saharan Africa—because it does well on poor soils and with low rainfall, and because it is a perennial that can be harvested as required. Its wide harvesting window allows it to act as a famine reserve and is invaluable in managing labor schedules. It also offers flexibility to resource-poor farmers because it serves as either a subsistence or a cash crop ^[7].

At the same time that underground storage of cassava is advantageous for managing work schedules, it may also lead to reduced quality of the roots, sometimes leaving the roots unsuitable for many types of processing. In some areas farmers have come to increasingly rely on dried Cassava chips. A 1992 study (Nweke et al.) revealed that about 42% of harvested cassava roots in West and East Africa are processed into dried chips and flour.^{[citation needed]}

Cassava in cultivation in Democratic Republic of Congo

No continent depends as much on root and tuber crops in feeding its population as does Africa. In the humid and sub-humid areas of tropical Africa, cassava is either a primary staple food or a secondary co-staple. In Ghana, for example, Cassava and yams occupy an important position the agricultural economy and contribute about 46% of the agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cassava accounts for a daily calorie intake of 30% in Ghana and is grown by nearly every farming family. The importance of cassava to many Africans is epitomised in the Ewe (a language spoken in Ghana, Togo and Benin) name for the plant, agble, meaning "there is life." However, the price of cassava has risen significantly in the last half decade and lower-income people have turned to other carbohydrate-rich foods such as rice and spaghetti.^{[citation needed]}

In Tamil Nadu, one of the 28 states of India, the National Highway 68 between Thalaivasal and Attur has many cassava processing factories (local name Sago Factory) alongside it—indicating an abundance of it in the neighborhood. Cassava is widely cultivated and eaten as a staple food in Andhra Pradesh.

In the subtropical region of southern China, cassava is the fifth largest crop in term of production, after rice, sweet potato, sugar cane, and maize. China is also the largest export market for cassava produced in Vietnam and Thailand. Over 60% of cassava production in China is concentrated in a single province, Guangxi, averaging over seven million tons annually.

Uses

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Human food

Cassava-based dishes are widely consumed wherever the plant is cultivated. Some of these dishes have regional, national, or ethnic importance.^[8] Cassava must be cooked properly to detoxify it before it is eaten.

Cassava heavy cake

Cassava can be cooked in various ways. The soft-boiled root has a delicate flavor and can replace boiled potatoes in many uses: as an accompaniment for meat dishes, or made into purées, dumplings, soups, stews, gravies, etc.. Deep fried (after boiling or steaming), it can replace fried potatoes, with a distinctive flavor. Tapioca and foufou are made from the starchy cassava root flour. Tapioca is an essentially flavourless starchy ingredient, or fecula, produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking. It is similar to sago and is commonly used to make a milky pudding similar to rice pudding. Cassava flour, also called tapioca flour or tapioca starch, can also replace wheat flour, and is so-used by some people with wheat allergies or coeliac disease. Boba tapioca pearls are made from cassava root. It is also used in cereals for which several tribes in South America have used it extensively. It is also used in making cassava cake, a popular pastry.

The juice of the bitter cassava, boiled to the consistence of thick syrup and flavored with spices, is called cassareep. It is used as a basis for various sauces and as a culinary flavoring, principally in tropical countries. It is exported chiefly from Guyana.

Cassava is used in bubble drinks in East Asia.

Frozen cassava leaves from the Philippines sold at a Los Angeles market

The leaves can be pounded to a fine chaff and cooked as a palaver sauce in Sierra Leone, usually with palm oil but vegetable oil can also be used. Palaver sauces contain meat and fish as well. It is necessary to wash the leaf chaff several times to remove the bitterness.

In DR Congo the leaves are used in a stew called Pondu.

Biofuel

In many countries, significant research has begun to evaluate the use of cassava as an ethanol biofuel feedstock. Under the Development Plan for Renewable Energy in the 11th Five-Year Plan in China, the target is to increase the application of ethanol fuel by non-grain feedstock to 2 million tonnes, and that of bio-diesel to 200 thousand tonnes by 2010. This will be equivalent to a substitute of 10 million tonnes of petroleum. As a result, cassava (tapioca) chips have gradually become a major source for ethanol production^[9]. On December 22, 2007, the largest cassava ethanol fuel production facility was completed in Beihai with annual output of two hundred thousand tons, which would need an average of one and half million tons of cassava^[10]. In November 2008, China-based Hainan Yedao Group reportedly invested $51.5m (£31.8m) in a new biofuel facility that is expected to produce 33 million gallons a year of bio-ethanol from cassava plants ^[11].

Animal feed

Cassava is used worldwide for animal feed as well. Cassava hay is hay which is produced at a young growth stage, 3–4 months and being harvested about 30-45 cm above ground, sun-dried for 1–2 days until having final dry matter of at least 85%. The cassava hay contains high protein content (20-27% Crude Protein) and condensed tannins (1.5-4% CP). It is used as a good roughage source for dairy, beef, buffalo, goats, and sheep by either direct feeding or as a protein source in the concentrate mixtures. More details can be searched from Metha Wanapat, Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences.

Ethnomedicine

• The bitter variety of Manihot root is used to treat diarrhea and malaria.
• The leaves are used to treat hypertension, headache, and pain.
• Cubans commonly use cassava to treat irritable bowel syndrome, the paste is eaten in excess during treatment.^{[citation needed]}
• As cassava is a gluten-free natural starch, there have been increasing incidences of its appearance in Western cuisine as a wheat alternative for sufferers of coeliac disease.

Food use processing and toxicity

Cassava root, peeled.

Cassava roots and leaves cannot be consumed raw because they contain two cyanogenic glucosides, linamarin and lotaustralin. These are decomposed by linamarase, a naturally occurring enzyme in cassava, liberating hydrogen cyanide (HCN).^[12] Cassava varieties are often categorized as either "sweet" or "bitter", signifying the absence or presence of toxic levels of cyanogenic glucosides. The so-called "sweet" (actually "not bitter") cultivars can produce as little as 20 milligrams of cyanide (CN) per kilogram of fresh roots, whereas "bitter" ones may produce more than 50 times as much (1 g/kg). Cassavas grown during drought are especially high in these toxins.^[13][14] A dose 40 mg of pure cassava cyanogenic glucoside is sufficient to kill a cow.

Cassava bread

Societies which traditionally eat cassava generally understand that some processing (soaking, cooking, fermentation, etc.) is necessary to avoid getting sick.^{[citation needed]} However, consumption of insufficiently processed bitter cassava may cause konzo (also called mantakassa), a paralytic neurological disease. A safe processing method, developed by J. Ospina,^[15] is to mix the cassava flour with water into a thick paste and then let it stand in the shade for five hours in a thin layer spread over a basket. In that time about 5/6 of the cyanogenic glycosides are broken down by the linamarase; the resulting hydrogen cyanide escapes to the atmosphere, making the flour safe for consumption the same evening.^[16]

For some smaller-rooted "sweet" varieties, cooking is sufficient to eliminate all toxicity. The cyanide is carried away in the processing water and the amounts produced in domestic consumption are too small to have environmental impact.^[12] The larger-rooted "bitter" varieties used for production of flour or starch must be processed to remove the cyanogenic glucosides. The large roots are peeled and then ground into flour, which is then soaked in water, squeezed dry several times, and toasted. The starch grains that float to the surface during the soaking process are also used in cooking.^[17] The flour is used throughout South America and the Caribbean. Industrial production of cassava flour, even at the cottage level, may generate enough cyanide and cyanogenic glycosides in the effluents to have a severe environmental impact.^[12]

The traditional method used in West Africa is to peel the roots and put them into water for 3 days to ferment. The roots then are dried or cooked. In Nigeria and several other west African countries, including Ghana, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso, they are usually grated and lightly fried in palm oil to preserve them. The result is a foodstuff called 'Gari'. Fermentation is also used in other places such as Indonesia (see Tapai). The fermentation process also reduces the level of antinutrients, making the cassava a more nutritious food.^[18]

The reliance on cassava as a food source and the resulting exposure to the goitrogenic effects of thiocyanate has been responsible for the endemic goitres seen in the Akoko area of southwestern Nigeria.^[19]

Historically, people economically forced to depend on cassava risk chronic poisoning diseases, such as tropical ataxic neuropathy (TAN), or such malnutrition diseases as kwashiorkor and endemic goitre.

Cassava farming

Harvesting

Cassava is harvested by hand by raising the lower part of stem and pulling the roots out of the ground, then removing them from the base of the plant. The upper parts of the stems with the leaves are plucked off before harvest. Cassava is propagated by cutting the stem into sections of approximately 15 cm, these being planted prior to the wet season.^{[citation needed]}

Postharvest handling and storage

Cassava undergoes postharvest physiological deterioration, or PPD, once the tubers are separated from the main plant. The tubers, when damaged, normally respond with a healing mechanism. However, the same mechanism, which involves coumaric acids, initiates about 15 minutes after damage, and fails to switch off in harvested tubers. It continues until the entire tuber is oxidised and blackened within two to three days after harvest, rendering it unpalatable and useless.

PPD is one of the main obstacles currently preventing farmers from exporting cassavas abroad and generating income. Cassava can be preserved in various ways such as coating in wax or freezing.^{[citation needed]}

The major cause of losses during cassava chip storage is infestation by insects. A wide range of species that feed directly on the dried chips have been reported as the cause of weight loss in the stored produce. Some loss assessment studies and estimations on dried cassava chips have been carried out in different countries. Hirandan and Advani (1955) measured 12 - 14% post-harvest weight losses in India for chips stored for about five months. Killick (1966) estimated for Ghana that 19% of the harvest cassava roots are lost annually, and Nicol (1991) estimated a 15 - 20% loss of -dried chips stored for eight months. Pattinson (1968) estimated for Tanzania a 12% weight loss of cassava chips stored for five months, and Hodges et al. (1985) assessed during a field survey post-harvest losses of up to 19% after 3 months and up to 63% after four to five months due to the infestation of Prostephanus truncatus (Horn). In Togo, Stabrawa (1991) assessed post-harvest weight losses of 5% after one month of storage and 15% after three months of storage due to insect infestation, and Compton (1991) assessed weight losses of about 9% for each store in the survey area in Togo. Wright et al. (1993) assessed post-harvest losses of chips of about 14% after four months of storage, about 20% after seven month of storage and up to 30% when P. truncatus attacked the dried chips. In addition, Wright et al. (1993) estimated that about 4% of the total national cassava production in Togo is lost during the chip storage. This was about equivalent to 0.05% of the GNP in 1989.

Cassava pests

Main article: List of cassava diseases

In Africa the cassava mealybug (Phenacoccus manihoti) and cassava green mite (Mononychellus tanajoa) can cause up to 80% crop loss, which is extremely detrimental to the production of subsistence farmers. These pests were rampant in the 1970s and 1980s but were brought under control following the establishment of the Biological Control Centre for Africa of the IITA. The Centre investigated biological control for cassava pests; two South American natural enemies Apoanagyrus lopezi (a parasitoid wasp) and Typhlodromalus aripo (a predatory mite) were found to effectively control the cassava mealybug and the cassava green mite respectively.

The cassava mosaic virus causes the leaves of the cassava plant to wither, limiting the growth of the root. The virus is spread by the whitefly and by the transplanting of diseased plants into new fields. Sometime in the late 1980s, a mutation occurred in Uganda that made the virus even more harmful, causing the complete loss of leaves. This mutated virus has been spreading at a rate of 50 miles per year, and as of 2005 may be found throughout Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.^[20]

Notes

1. ^ Darwin, Charles R. (1839). Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Journal and remarks. 1832-1836.. London: Henry Colburn. pp. 619. 
   "Mandioca or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity" (p. 25).
   See it also in The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
2. ^ First International Meeting on Cassava Breeding, Biotechnology and Ecology, “Cassava improvement to enhance livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa and northeastern Brazil” Brasilia 11-15 November 2006, p102 [1]
3. ^ Olsen, Kenneth M.; Schaal, Barbara A. (1999) "Evidence on the origin of cassava: Phylogeography of Manihot esculenta" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Vol. 96, Issue 10, p. 5587 & 5590.
4. ^ Pope, Kevin; Pohl, Mary E. D.; Jones, John G.; Lentz, David L.; von Nagy, Christopher; Vega, Francisco J.; Quitmyer Irvy R.; "Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica", Science, 18 May 2001:Vol. 292. no. 5520, pp. 1370 - 1373.
5. ^ University of Colorado at Boulder, (2007) "CU-Boulder Archaeology Team Discovers First Ancient Manioc Fields In Americas", press release August 20, 2007, accessed August 29, 2007.
6. ^ Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
7. ^ Stone, Glenn D. 2002 Both Sides Now: Fallacies in the Genetic-Modification Wars, Implications for Developing Countries, and Anthropological Perspectives. Current Anthropology, 43(4):611-630
8. ^ Frederick Douglass Opie, Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America, (Columbia University Press 2008), chapters 1-2.
9. ^ [2]
10. ^ [3]
11. ^ [4]
12. ^ ^{a b c} M.P.Cereda, M.C.Y.Matos (1996): Linamarin - The toxic compound of cassava. Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins, vol. 2 no. 1. Center of Tropical Roots, CERAT-UNESP, São Paulo State University, Botucatu (SP), Brazil. doi: 10.1590/S0104-79301996000100002
13. ^ Aregheore E. M, Agunbiade O. O. (1991). "The toxic effects of cassava (manihot esculenta grantz) diets on humans: a review.". Vet. Hum. Toxicol. 33: 274–275. 
14. ^ White W. L. B., Arias-Garzon D. I., McMahon J. M., Sayre R. T. (1998). "Cyanogenesis in Cassava, The Role of Hydroxynitrile Lyase in Root Cyanide Production". Plant Physiol. 116: 1219–1225. doi:10.1104/pp.116.4.1219. 
15. ^ J. Howard Bradbury (2006). "Simple wetting method to reduce cyanogen content of cassava flour". Journal of food composition and analysis (Elsevier, New York) 19 (4): 388–393. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2005.04.012. 
16. ^ The Australian National University (2007-02-07). "New method of cyanide removal to help millions". Press release. http://info.anu.edu.au/mac/Media/Media_Releases/_2007/_February/_070207_Bradbury_cassava.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 
17. ^ G. Padmaja (1995). "Cyanide detoxification in cassava for food and feed uses.". Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr.: 299–339. 
18. ^ Oboh G, Oladunmoye MK (2007). "Biochemical changes in micro-fungi fermented cassava flour produced from low- and medium-cyanide variety of cassava tubers". Nutr Health 18 (4): 355–67. PMID 18087867. 
19. ^ Akindahunsi AA, Grissom FE, Adewusi SR, Afolabi OA, Torimiro SE, Oke OL (1998). "Parameters of thyroid function in the endemic goitre of Akungba and Oke-Agbe villages of Akoko area of southwestern Nigeria". African journal of medicine and medical sciences 27 (3-4): 239–42. PMID 10497657. 
20. ^ "Article". stltoday.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/sciencemedicine/story/0E96D8B196362C0A8625723F0022D403?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-08-11. ^{[dead link]}

References

• Amazon Amidos, the first cassava starch industry of the North of Brazil.

• "June 2003 cassava market assessment". Food and Agriculture Organization. June 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-11-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20071124000800/http://www.fao.org/es/esc/en/20953/21029/highlight_28829en.html. Retrieved 2008-08-11. 
• Cereda, M.P. and Mattos, M.C.Y. (1996). "Linamarin - The Toxic Compound of Cassava". Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins (online) 2: 6–12. doi:10.1590/S0104-79301996000100002. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-79301996000100002&lng=en&nrm=iso. 

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 edition of The Grocer's Encyclopedia.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - maniok

Nederlands (Dutch)
cassave(meel/ -brood), tapioca

Français (French)
n. - (Bot) manioc, (Culin) farine de manioc

Deutsch (German)
n. - (bot.) Maniok, Tapioka (Stärke)

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (φυτολ.) μανιότη(ς), ταπιόκα

Italiano (Italian)
manioca

Português (Portuguese)
n. - mandioca (f), farinha (f) de mandioca, pão (m) feito de farinha de mandioca

Русский (Russian)
маниок

Español (Spanish)
n. - mandioca, tapioca

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kassavabuske (bot.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
树薯

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 樹薯

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 식물 카사바

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - タピオカノキ, カッサバ澱粉

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) نبات المنيهوت‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קסאבה (צמח)‬

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