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Tapioca Origins?

GNC

GNC

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Right, mention of tapioca in the old time dinners thread brought to mind this nugget. Apparently (I read in this book as a kid) it was invented by an explorer (in Africa? South America?) who had been hopelessly lost for some time in the jungle, so decide to end it all by eating a poisonous plant. He dug up the tapioca plant, cut off its roots and boiled it up - but found it didn't kill him, it sustained him long enough to be rescued. Is that true or false?
 
Tapioca originated in South America, and was subsequently introduced to the rest of the world by the Portuguese in the 1500s. It's a product of the otherwise toxic cassava root. Tapioca is produced by soaking, drying and / or toasting the root to leave only a residue that's mostly starch. Properly done, this preparation protocol removes the toxic materials (which, by the way, produce cyanide).

The anecdote about an explorer in Africa may be true, but the explorer was merely replicating a safe preparation procedure that had been known and performed for centuries earlier.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Tapioca originated in South America, and was subsequently introduced to the rest of the world by the Portuguese in the 1500s. It's a product of the otherwise toxic cassava root. Tapioca is produced by soaking, drying and / or toasting the root to leave only a residue that's mostly starch. Properly done, this preparation protocol removes the toxic materials (which, by the way, produce cyanide).

The anecdote about an explorer in Africa may be true, but the explorer was merely replicating a safe preparation procedure that had been known and performed for centuries earlier.
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It does sound like something the marketing department dreamt up! I'm thinking that book may have been fanciful, though. Thanks for your help.
 
Ah, tapioca - or as it was known in school dinner guise, frogspawn. Bleurgh.
 
GNC said:
Right, mention of tapioca in the old time dinners thread brought to mind this nugget. Apparently (I read in this book as a kid) it was invented by an explorer (in Africa? South America?) who had been hopelessly lost for some time in the jungle, so decide to end it all by eating a poisonous plant. He dug up the tapioca plant, cut off its roots and boiled it up - but found it didn't kill him, it sustained him long enough to be rescued. Is that true or false?
Click to expand...

As an explorer would have had access to firearms, edged tools, rope, cliffs, rivers, dangerous animals etc., it seems a pretty convoluted way to roll a seven.

maximus otter
 
Oh tapioca! My dad used to love it and my mum would cook up a panful which only he would eat. I don't remember ever being given, or offered, it, even at school. We had semolina, which I liked then and loved now, or ground rice, if we were being given milk puddings. I wouldn't have the faintest idea of where to get tapioca or how to prepare it when I'd got it. I mean, prepared stuff, obviously, not 'go to South America, find tapioca bush, dig up root and boil it' type preparation.
 
bugmum said:
Ah, tapioca - or as it was known in school dinner guise, frogspawn. Bleurgh.
Click to expand...
Yes it was vile but at our school they served it up with rosehip sauce which was lovely. It was quite difficult eating the red without the white.
 
I bought a cassava root a few months back, thinking it was a sweet potato. It is also known as Yuca - not Yucca!

I gathered, from online advice, that my bargain example betrayed signs of deterioration, as streaks had appeared in the flesh.

I binned it.

I have used Gari - fermented cassava - in dumplings and enjoyed the tangy taste. On its own it is very heavy but blended with other flour and yeasted, it is delicious. :)
 
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