Yucca, Cassava, Manioc

The staff of life for more than 200 million people in the tropics, it was discovered in the new world by the Portuguese among the Tupi peoples of the Brazilian Coast. where it had been cultivated for more than a thousand years.  The cassava was processed by the women of the villages. The outer skin is removed and the flesh is grated and placed in a long, tightly woven basket. The basket is hung from a tree with a heavy weight attached to its bottom. The basket is stretched and tightened so that the poisonous juices are squeezed out, much like a Chinese finger trap. The remaining pulp is then removed from the basket. boiled and rinsed then slightly toasted. then ground into a powder which is called Farinahs de Mandioca (not to be confused with Cream of Wheat). The Farinha powder is moistened and forced through a sieve of various sizes which form round pellets. The pellets are known as tapioca.

The Yucca or Manioc roots are depicted on four thousand year old Peruvian pottery.  So it can be assumed that this root has been sustaining human life for more than six thousand years.

Puerto Ricans and other Spanish speakers call the Manioc Yucca: in English it is normally called cassava: the French say Manioc and in Asia it is occasionally called tapioca.