Manioc

What is Cassava

Manioc, cassava And yuca: three names to indicate the same food, consisting of the tuberous roots of the plant Manihot esculenta Crantz; some people use a fourth term, tapioca, however improper because it refers not so much to the tuberized roots, as to a high quality flour that is obtained from them.

Little known in industrialized countries, cassava produces large tuberous roots (weighing 4-8 kg), very rich in starch (30-70%, respectively on fresh and dried weight).

Cassava has an elongated shape and is thinner on one vertex than the other. A brown peel, thicker than that of the potato, covers a hard, light pulp, with a fibrous cord running lengthwise in the center.

Botanical Features

The cassava plant is a shrub which, in the wild, reaches 4-5m in height; in crops, however, it does not exceed 2-3m. The leaves are palmate and yellowish in color, as are the clusters of flowers. The fruits are trilocular capsules that contain the seeds.

The yuca amara plant is distinguished from the sweet one by its reddish stem and leaves, while the other is green. The roots of cassava are simple and then divide into several branches, similar in shape to fleshy tubercles; those of bitter cassava they have a length of 10-15cm and a diameter of 4-10cm (some varieties reach record sizes); on the contrary, those of the sweet cassava are smaller. Over time, the surface of the sweet yuca becomes wrinkled, while the " other remains smooth.
The chemical content of fresh cassava is 60-70% in water, 20-30% in starch, 1-2% in cellulose, 0.5% in ash (mineral salts) and 0.6-1.5% in substances protein. The tuberous roots contain laticiferous vessels carrying a poisonous substance (especially the bitter variety) called manihotoxin, a glucoside that releases hydrogen cyanide (0.01-0.24% in the sweet, especially in the peel, and 0.3-0.4% in the bitter, much in the pulp). Not surprisingly, the cassava amara mainly produces flours intended for cooking, while the sweet yuca can be consumed in limited quantities even raw.
Many products are made from cassava, including fodder for livestock; some derivatives intended for human consumption are: dried cassava, yuca flour, cassava starch and tapioca.

Distribution and Cultivation

The yuca is native to Central and South America (central-western Brazil). Cassava plantations (mainly varieties very useful or bitter e dulcis or sweet) are found a little in the whole tropical and sub-tropical belt, but the country that is at the top of the scale is undoubtedly Africa (especially Nigeria), followed by Asia and finally by Latin America with the Caribbean.
Cassava is therefore cultivated extensively especially for the edible tuberous root, which contains high quantities of starch (intended as a mixture of starch, ash, protein and lipid residues). Cassava plays a fundamental role in the nutrition of the populations of Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Paraguay, Guyana, the Antilles, South of North America, India, New Caledonia, Réunion, Madagasca, Philippines, Java, East and West Africa.
In rainy regions, the tuberous roots are harvested by hand annually; every 2-3 years in arid ones. The average yield of the yuca is about 150-200 quintals per hectare; in Brazil, about 70-100 quintals for sweet and 150-200 for bitter. In Java it reaches 300 quintals.

Gastronomic use

Cassava can be used in many ways, almost all identical to those of potatoes. Except for consumption raw (limited to a few sweet varieties and not entirely advisable), the following are suitable: boiling, roasting on the fire, cooking in the oven, in the form of mashed potatoes, cream or velvety and frying.
After the appropriate washing and cooking operations (or possible soaking with fermentation) - necessary to remove the toxic cyanogenic glycoside (better said linamaroside) - the tuberous roots of cassava can be the production base for flour and starch (of the latter, the most refined and valuable is tapioca). These are particularly energetic and versatile flours, used in the places of origin to make cakes, unleavened bread, biscuits and polenta; in the West, cassava is used above all for the formulation of soupy first courses, as a thickening additive and in dietetic foods (such as, for example, those for celiacs).
Flours are also used industrially for the manufacture of glucose, glucose syrups, ethyl alcohol and poor quality beer.
The less valuable varieties of yuca are intended for cattle feed.



How to Clean and Cook Cassava

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Sophistications

Cassava flours are often the subject of sophistication; among all, the most affected is undoubtedly tapioca. It is frequent to mix the latter with other starches, mainly with potatoes. in the potato derivative, they are considerably larger and different in shape.

Nutritional Characteristics

In many developing countries, cassava represents the staple food for the less affluent population; however, its excessive consumption is not without drawbacks. The tuberous root and its derivatives are in fact poor in essential amino acids (1,5- 3g of protein per 100 grams, respectively on fresh and dried weight). It therefore appears evident as an almost monothematic diet based on cassava, and at the same time extremely poor in foods of animal origin (as well as cereals and legumes), in the long term it can lead to worsening protein deficits, up to the onset of kwashiorkor; it is no coincidence that it is said that Cassava "removes hunger but does not nourish".
Among other things, the content of lipids, vitamins and mineral salts is almost irrelevant, except for small concentrations of ascorbic acid (vit. C) unfortunately destroyed by cooking.
NB. In addition to the various negative aspects, it is instead necessary to specify that yuca DOES NOT CONTAIN GLUTEN!
Europe, for its part, imports considerable quantities of cassava every year from the producing countries, later allocating it to a large extent for cattle breeding; it is also used as a thickener and as a functional ingredient in some dietary products.