Cassava
| Scientific classification | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Division | Magnoliophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Euphorbiales |
| Family | Euphorbiaceae |
| Genus | Manihot |
| Species | esculenta |
| Binomial nomenclature | |
| Manihot esculenta Crantz | |
Cassava or manioc (Manihot esculenta; also yuca in Spanish, and mandioca, aipim, or macaxera in Portuguese) is a woody perennial shrub of the spurge family, that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop for its edible starchy root. It was originally observed in what are now called Brazil and Paraguay, and today is widely diffused in tropical and subtropical regions. All known species and varieties are cultigens.
Description
The 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; it breaks like a carrot's, and darkens quicky upon exposure to the air. (For this reason, the skinned root must be kept under water until it is ready to be cooked.) Even under refrigeration, the root's flavor spoils in a day or so, and therefore it is not very popular with supermarkets.
The root contains free and bound cyanogenic glucosides which are converted to HCN in the presence of linamarase, a naturally occurring enzyme in cassava. In the past, cassava was 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 mg of HCN per kg of fresh roots, while "bitter" ones may produce more than 50 times as much. Bitter varieties must be processed so as to remove the cyanogenic gluosides.
Uses
The root cannot be eaten raw, but can be cooked into a great variety of dishes. The soft-boiled root has a delicate flavor and can replace boiled potatoes in many uses: as an accompainment for meat dishes, or deep-fried, made into pur�s, dumplings and gnocchi, soups, stews, gravies, etc. Cassava flour can also replace wheat flour, and is so-used by some people with allergies to other grain crops. Tapioca is made from the starchy flour from cassava root.
Cassava is heavily featured in Brazilian cuisine. The dish vaca atolada ("mud-stranded cow") is a meat and cassava stew, cooked until the root has turned into a paste; and pir� is a thick gravy-like gruel prepared by cooking fish bits (such as heads and bones) with cassava flour. In the guise of farofa (lightly roasted flour), cassava combines with rice and beans to make the basic meal of low-class Brazilians. Farofa is also a standard side dish for feijoada, the meat-and-beans stew that has become Brazilian "national dish". Boiled cassava is also made into a popular sweet pudding.
Cassava was, and still is, a major staple food for many native tribes of tropical South America, since pre-Colombian times. It was grated into flour and made into pancakes; bitter varieties were detoxified by washing the flour. Fermentation of cassava gruel produced cauim, a mild alcoholic beverage consumed in vast quantities by natives at parties and ceremonies.