Only sugarcane contains more calories

Jan 18, 2007 15:30 GMT  ·  By

You may not live in a tropical area, but this does not mean that you have never ingested manioc (or cassava).

Because the manioc starch is a key ingredient in meat and barbecue sauces, in baby aliments, in mustard, tapioca products (tapioca is the manioc flour), in gelling products, sweets and bread. Even the meat or milk you consume can come from animals partially fed with manioc powder.

Manioc is also employed in making adhesives, paintings and glues.

Even if manioc originated in Brazil, now the biggest productions come from Africa and Asia.

The manioc tubers are poor in proteins but rich in carbon hydrates, calcium and phospohorus. The same amount of manioc contains 2,5 times more calories than corn or sweet potatoes.

Shoots and leaves are edible, being rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins.

Manioc is extremely easy to cultivate, and cheap, as the plant requires slight amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. It will grow in tropical areas till 2000 m altitude, from wet areas to those with a 9 months dry season.

But once collected, the real work begins. The tubers, which can be 10 cm wide and 80 cm long, are skinned and washed.

They have a woody ax and breaks like a carrot. The skinned tubers darken quickly exposed to air, that's why they must be put in water. After that, they are ground (there can be special machines for grinding manioc), turning them into a paste. The paste is put into a permeable sack (or fabric) and squeezed to remove the liquid part.

The squeezed paste is left to dry for a few days. After that, the dry paste is sifted using a strainer. If the powder is baked, the product resulted is named gari.

The procedure of preparing manioc must not be simplified, as the tubers contain hydrogen cyanide, an extremely potent poison for both people and animals.

Gari mixed with cocos milk makes an excellent pudding.

It may be used for making biscuits.

Manioc is served with meat and vegetables, with fish sauce and eggs or it can enter in the composition of soups.

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