The market · Roots and tubers · West Africa, The Americas, Southeast Asia
Cassava
A long, bark-skinned root from South America, now the staple starch of much of the tropics — as garri, fufu and tapioca.
mealy · mild
What to do with it
MinahasanTinutuanA thick rice porridge full of pumpkin, sweet potato, cassava, corn and greens, with no meat, eaten with smoked fish and dabu-dabu.No one here has made it yetJamaicanBammyA thick round flatbread of grated cassava, soaked in coconut milk and fried or steamed — Jamaica's oldest bread.No one here has made it yet
Kinds
- Fresh root
- Waxed to keep; boil, fry or steam.
- Garri
- Fermented, roasted granules — soaked, or made into eba.
- Tapioca
- The extracted starch, as pearls or flour.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- African, Caribbean and Latin grocers. The flesh should be pure white when cut, with no dark streaks.
- A little history
- Portuguese traders carried it from Brazil to West Africa in the 16th century.
- Worth knowing
- Always peel and cook it thoroughly — raw cassava contains cyanogenic compounds. Pull out the woody core.
