Cassava

Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions as an annual crop for its edible starchy tuberous root. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are processed to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes. The Brazilian Template:Lang, and the related garri of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, and finally drying it (and roasting in the case of both Template:Lang and garri).

Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in food in the tropics, after rice and maize, making it an important staple; more than 500 million people depend on it. It offers the advantage of being exceptionally drought-tolerant, and able to grow productively on poor soil. The largest producer is Nigeria, while Thailand is the largest exporter of cassava starch.

Cassava is grown in sweet and bitter varieties; both contain toxins, but the bitter varieties have them in much larger amounts. Cassava has to be prepared carefully for consumption, as improperly prepared material can contain sufficient cyanide to cause poisoning. The more toxic varieties of cassava have been used in some places as famine food during times of food insecurity. Farmers may however choose bitter cultivars to minimise crop losses.

Etymology

The generic name Manihot and the common name "manioc" both derive from the Guarani (Tupi) name mandioca or manioca for the plant.<ref name="Etym Dict manioc"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The specific name esculenta is Latin for 'edible'.<ref name="Etym Dict manioc">Template:Cite web</ref> The common name "cassava" is a 16th century word from the French or Portuguese cassave, in turn from Taíno caçabi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The common name "yuca" or "yucca" is most likely also from Taíno, via Spanish yuca or juca.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Description

The harvested part of a cassava plant is the storage root. This is long and tapered, with an easily detached rough brown rind. The white or yellowish flesh is firm and even in texture. Commercial cultivars can be Template:Convert wide at the top, and some Template:Convert long, with a woody vascular bundle running down the middle. The tuberous roots are largely starch, with small amounts of calcium (16 milligrams per 100 grams), phosphorus (27 mg/100 g), and vitamin C (20.6 mg/100 g).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cassava roots contain little protein, whereas the leaves are rich in it,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> except for being low in methionine, an essential amino acid.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

• Cassava plant
  Cassava plant
• Unprocessed tuberous roots
  Unprocessed tuberous roots
• Tuberous root in cross-section
  Tuberous root in cross-section
• Leaf
  Leaf
• Leaf detail
  Leaf detail
• Flower buds
  Flower buds
• Seeds
  Seeds

Genome

The complete and haplotype-resolved African cassava (TME204) genome has been reconstructed and made available using the Hi-C technology.<ref name="Qi 2022">Template:Cite journal</ref> The genome shows abundant novel gene loci with enriched functionality related to chromatin organization, meristem development, and cell responses.<ref name="Qi 2022"/> Differentially expressed transcripts of different haplotype origins were enriched for different functionality during tissue development. In each tissue, 20–30% of transcripts showed allele-specific expression differences with <2% of direction-shifting. Despite high gene synteny, the HiFi genome assembly revealed extensive chromosome rearrangements and abundant intra-genomic and inter-genomic divergent sequences, with significant structural variations mostly related to long terminal repeat retrotransposons.<ref name="Qi 2022"/>

Although smallholders are otherwise economically inefficient producers, they are vital to productivity at particular times.<ref name="McGregor 2020" /> Small cassava farmers are no exception.<ref name="McGregor 2020" /> Genetic diversity is vital when productivity has declined due to pests and diseases, and smallholders tend to retain less productive but more diverse gene pools.<ref name="McGregor 2020">Template:Cite journal</ref>

The molecular genetics of starchy root development in cassava have been analyzed and compared to other root and tuber crops, including possible (unproven) roles for Template:Visible anchor (FT) orthologs.<ref name="Zierer 2021">Template:Cite journal</ref>

History

Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in west-central Brazil, where it was likely first domesticated no more than 10,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Forms of the modern domesticated species can also be found growing in the wild in the south of Brazil. By 4600 BC, cassava pollen appears in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, at the San Andrés archaeological site.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a 1,400-year-old Maya site, Joya de Cerén, in El Salvador.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It became a staple food of the native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica, and the Taino people in the Caribbean islands, who grew it using a high-yielding form of shifting agriculture by the time of European contact in 1492.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cassava was a staple food of pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas and is often portrayed in indigenous art. The Moche people often depicted cassava in their ceramics.<ref>Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997.</ref>

Spaniards in their early occupation of Caribbean islands did not want to eat cassava or maize, which they considered insubstantial, dangerous, and not nutritious. They much preferred foods from Spain, specifically wheat bread, olive oil, red wine, and meat, and considered maize and cassava damaging to Europeans.<ref>Earle, Rebecca (2012) The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race, and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492–1700. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 54–57, 151. Template:ISBN.</ref> The cultivation and consumption of cassava were nonetheless continued in both Portuguese and Spanish America. Mass production of cassava bread became the first Cuban industry established by the Spanish.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ships departing to Europe from Cuban ports such as Havana, Santiago, Bayamo, and Baracoa carried goods to Spain, but sailors needed to be provisioned for the voyage. The Spanish also needed to replenish their boats with dried meat, water, fruit, and large amounts of cassava bread.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sailors complained that it caused them digestive problems.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century. Around the same period, it was introduced to Asia through Columbian Exchange by Portuguese and Spanish traders, who planted it in their colonies in Goa, Malacca, Eastern Indonesia, Timor and the Philippines.<ref name="Nweke 2005">Template:Cite book</ref> Cassava has also become an important crop in Asia. While it is a valued food staple in parts of eastern Indonesia, it is primarily cultivated for starch extraction and bio-fuel production in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Cassava is sometimes described as the "bread of the tropics"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but should not be confused with the tropical and equatorial bread tree (Encephalartos), the breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) or the African breadfruit (Treculia africana). This description definitely holds in Africa and parts of South America; in Asian countries such as Vietnam fresh cassava barely features in human diets.<ref name="Mota-Guttierez 2019">Template:Cite journal</ref> Cassava was introduced to East Africa around 1850 by Arab and European settlers, who promoted its cultivation as a reliable crop to mitigate the effects of drought and famine.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

There is a legend that cassava was introduced in 1880–1885 to the South Indian state of Kerala by the King of Travancore, Vishakham Thirunal Maharaja, after a great famine hit the kingdom, as a substitute for rice.<ref name="Saraswathy-2019">Template:Cite web</ref> However, cassava was cultivated in the state before that time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Cassava is called kappa or maricheeni in Malayalam, and tapioca in Indian English usage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Taíno women preparing cassava bread in 1565: grating tuberous roots into paste, shaping the bread, and cooking it on a fire-heated burén
  Taíno women preparing cassava bread in 1565: grating tuberous roots into paste, shaping the bread, and cooking it on a fire-heated burén
• 17th-century painting by Albert Eckhout in Dutch Brazil
  17th-century painting by Albert Eckhout in Dutch Brazil

Cultivation

Optimal conditions for cassava cultivation are mean annual temperatures between Template:Convert, annual precipitation between Template:Convert, and an annual growth period of no less than 240 days.<ref name="Del-Rosario-Arellano 2022">Template:Cite journal</ref> Cassava is propagated by cutting the stem into sections of approximately Template:Cvt, these being planted prior to the wet season.<ref name="Howeler 2007">Template:Cite web</ref> Cassava growth is favorable under temperatures ranging from Template:Convert, but it can tolerate temperatures as low as Template:Convert and as high as Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These conditions are found, among other places, in the northern part of the Gulf Coastal Plain in Mexico.<ref name="Del-Rosario-Arellano 2022"/> In this part of Mexico the following soil types have been shown to be good for cassava cultivation: phaeozem, regosol, arenosol, andosol and luvisol.<ref name="Del-Rosario-Arellano 2022"/>

• Stakes
  Stakes
• Grafting
  Grafting

Harvesting

Before harvest, the leafy stems are removed. The harvest is gathered by pulling up the base of the stem and cutting off the tuberous roots.<ref name="Howeler 2007"/>

Handling and storage

Cassava deteriorates after harvest, when the tuberous roots are first cut. The healing mechanism produces coumaric acid, which oxidizes and blackens the roots, making them inedible after a few days. This deterioration is related to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species initiated by cyanide release during mechanical harvesting. Cassava shelf life may be increased up to three weeks by overexpressing a cyanide-insensitive alternative oxidase, which suppressed ROS by 10-fold.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Post-harvest deterioration is a major obstacle to the export of cassava. Fresh cassava can be preserved like potato, using thiabendazole or bleach as a fungicide, then wrapping in plastic, freezing, or applying a wax coating.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

While alternative methods for controlling post-harvest deterioration have been proposed, such as preventing reactive oxygen species effects by using plastic bags during storage and transport, coating the roots with wax, or freezing roots, such strategies have proved to be economically or technically impractical, leading to breeding of cassava varieties with improved durability after harvest, achieved by different mechanisms.<ref name="Venturini-2016">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Morante-2010">Template:Cite journal</ref> One approach used gamma rays to try to silence a gene involved in triggering deterioration; another strategy selected for plentiful carotenoids, antioxidants which may help to reduce oxidization after harvest.<ref name="Morante-2010" />

• Starch processing
  Starch processing
• Starch flour
  Starch flour
• Starch wet-processing
  Starch wet-processing
• Spreading Casabe burrero (cassava bread) to dry, Venezuela
  Spreading Casabe burrero (cassava bread) to dry, Venezuela
• Starch being prepared for packaging
  Starch being prepared for packaging
• Starch noodles packaged for shipping
  Starch noodles packaged for shipping
• Frozen leaves in a Los Angeles market
  Frozen leaves in a Los Angeles market
• Picked buds
  Picked buds

Pests and diseases

File:Thailand 19 lo (4039130033).jpg

An agronomist examines a diseased cassava crop in Thailand.

Cassava is subject to pests from multiple taxonomic groups, including nematodes, and insects, as well as diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, and fungi. All cause reductions in yield, and some cause serious losses of crops.<ref name="Alvarez 2012"/>

Viruses

Several viruses cause enough damage to cassava crops to be of economic importance. The African cassava mosaic virus causes the leaves of the cassava plant to wither, limiting the growth of the root.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An outbreak of the virus in Africa in the 1920s led to a major famine.<ref name="NYT 2010">Template:Cite news</ref> The virus is spread by the whitefly and by the transplanting of diseased plants into new fields. Sometime in the late-1980s, a mutation occurred in Uganda that made the virus even more harmful, causing the complete loss of leaves. This mutated virus spread at a rate of Template:Convert per year, and as of 2005 was found throughout Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Viruses are a severe production limitation in the tropics. They are the primary reason for the complete lack of yield increases in the 25 years Template:As of.<ref name="Afedraru-2019" /> Cassava brown streak virus disease is a major threat to cultivation worldwide.<ref name="NYT 2010" /> Cassava mosaic virus (CMV) is widespread in Africa, causing cassava mosaic disease (CMD).<ref name="Lebot-2020" /> Bredeson et al. 2016 find the M. esculenta cultivars most widely used on that continent have M. carthaginensis subsp. glaziovii genes of which some appear to be CMD resistance genes.<ref name="Lebot-2020">Template:Cite book</ref> Although the ongoing CMD pandemic affects both East and Central Africa, Legg et al. found that these two areas have two distinct subpopulations of the vector, Bemisia tabaci whiteflies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Genetically engineered cassava offers opportunities for the improvement of virus resistance, including CMV and CBSD resistance.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Bacteria

Among the most serious bacterial pests is Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis, which causes bacterial blight of cassava. This disease originated in South America and has followed cassava around the world.<ref name="Lozano-1986">Template:Cite journal</ref> Bacterial blight has been responsible for near catastrophic losses and famine in past decades, and its mitigation requires active management practices.<ref name="Lozano-1986" /> Several other bacteria attack cassava, including the related Xanthomonas campestris pv. cassavae, which causes bacterial angular leaf spot.<ref name="Zárate-Chaves 2021">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Fungi

Template:Anchor Several fungi bring about significant crop losses, one of the most serious being cassava root rot; the pathogens involved are species of Phytophthora, the genus which causes potato blight. Cassava root rot can result in losses of as much as 80 percent of the crop.<ref name="Alvarez 2012">Template:Cite book</ref> A major pest is a rust caused by Uromyces manihotis.<ref name="CABI-ISC-2019">Template:Cite web</ref> Superelongation disease, caused by Elsinoë brasiliensis, can cause losses of over 80 percent of young cassava in Latin America and the Caribbean when temperature and rainfall are high.<ref name="Alvarez 2012"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Alleyne-2023">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Nematodes

Nematode pests of cassava are thought to cause harms ranging from negligible to seriously damaging,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Gapasin-1980"/> making the choice of management methods difficult.<ref name="Coyne 1994"/> A wide range of plant parasitic nematodes have been reported associated with cassava worldwide. These include Pratylenchus brachyurus, Rotylenchulus reniformis, Helicotylenchus spp., Scutellonema spp. and Meloidogyne spp., of which Meloidogyne incognita and Meloidogyne javanica are the most widely reported and economically important.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Meloidogyne spp. feeding produces physically damaging galls with eggs inside them. Galls later merge as the females grow and enlarge, and they interfere with water and nutrient supply.<ref name="Gapasin-1980">Template:Cite journal</ref> Cassava roots become tough with age and restrict the movement of the juveniles and the egg release. It is therefore possible that extensive galling can be observed even at low densities following infection.<ref name="Coyne 1994">Template:Cite journal</ref> Other pests and diseases can gain entry through the physical damage caused by gall formation, leading to rots. They have not been shown to cause direct damage to the enlarged tuberous roots, but plant height can be reduced if the root system is reduced.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Nematicides reduce the numbers of galls per feeder root, along with fewer rots in the tuberous roots.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The organophosphorus nematicide femaniphos does not reduce crop growth or harvest yield. Nematicide use in cassava does not increase harvested yield significantly, but lower infestation at harvest and lower subsequent storage loss provide a higher effective yield. The use of tolerant and resistant cultivars is the most practical management method in most locales.<ref name="Coyne-2018">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Coyne 1994"/><ref name="Uchechukwumgemezu-2020">Template:Cite web</ref>

Insects

File:A Cassava Pest of the Southeastern Nigeria.jpg

Grasshoppers, here on cassava in Nigeria, are secondary pests of cassava.<ref name="Alvarez 2012"/>

Insects such as stem borers and other beetles, moths including Chilomima clarkei, scale insects, fruit flies, shootflies, burrower bugs, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, gall midges, leafcutter ants, and termites contribute to losses of cassava in the field,<ref name="Alvarez 2012"/> while others contribute to serious losses, between 19% and 30%, of dried cassava in storage.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In Africa, a previous issue was the cassava mealybug (Phenacoccus manihoti) and cassava green mite (Mononychellus tanajoa). These pests can cause up to 80 percent crop loss, which is extremely detrimental to the production of subsistence farmers. These pests were rampant in the 1970s and 1980s but were brought under control following the establishment of the Biological Control Centre for Africa of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) under the leadership of Hans Rudolf Herren.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Centre investigated biological control for cassava pests; two South American natural enemies Anagyrus lopezi (a parasitoid wasp) and Typhlodromalus aripo (a predatory mite) were found to effectively control the cassava mealybug and the cassava green mite, respectively.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Production

Cassava production – 2022
Country	millions of tonnes
Template:NGR	60.8
Template:DRC	48.8
Template:THA	34.1
Template:GHA	25.6
Template:CAM	17.7
Template:BRA	17.6
World	330
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations<ref name="FAOSTAT-2024">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022, world production of cassava root was 330 million tonnes, led by Nigeria with 18% of the total (table). Other major growers were Democratic Republic of the Congo and Thailand.

Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in food in the tropics, after rice and maize.<ref name="FAO-2016">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Fauquet-1990">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Afedraru-2019">Template:Cite web</ref> making it an important staple; more than 500 million people depend on it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It offers the advantage of being exceptionally drought-tolerant, and able to grow productively on poor soil. Cassava grows well within 30° of the equator, where it can be produced at up to Template:Convert above sea level, and with Template:Convert of rain per year. These environmental tolerances suit it to conditions across much of South America and Africa.<ref>Template:Cite journal reprinted as a chapter in Crop physiology case histories for major crops. Academic Press, 2021, pages 588-633.</ref>

Cassava yields a large amount of food energy per unit area of land per day – Template:Cvt, as compared with Template:Cvt for rice, Template:Cvt for wheat and Template:Cvt for maize.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Cassava, yams (Dioscorea spp.), and sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are important sources of food in the tropics. The cassava plant gives the third-highest yield of carbohydrates per cultivated area among crop plants, after sugarcane and sugar beets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cassava plays a particularly important role in agriculture in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, because it does well on poor soils and with low rainfall, and because it is a perennial that can be harvested as required. Its wide harvesting window allows it to act as a famine reserve and is invaluable in managing labor schedules. It offers flexibility to resource-poor farmers because it serves as either a subsistence or a cash crop.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Worldwide, 800 million people depend on cassava as their primary food staple.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Toxicity

File:Linamarin.svg

Raw cassava is dangerous to eat as it contains linamarin (illustrated) and other cyanogenic glycosides, which are broken down to release poisonous hydrogen cyanide.<ref name="Cereda 1996"/>

Cassava roots, peels and leaves are dangerous to eat raw because they contain linamarin and lotaustralin, which are toxic cyanogenic glycosides. These are decomposed by the cassava enzyme linamarase, releasing poisonous hydrogen cyanide.<ref name="Cereda 1996">Template:Cite journal</ref> Cassava varieties are often categorized as either bitter (high in cyanogenic glycosides) or sweet (low in those bitter compounds). Sweet cultivars can contain as little as 20 milligrams of cyanide per kilogram of fresh roots, whereas bitter cultivars may contain as much as 1000 milligrams per kilogram. Cassavas grown during drought are especially high in these toxins.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A dose of 25 mg of pure cassava cyanogenic glucoside, which contains 2.5 mg of cyanide, is sufficient to kill a rat.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Excess cyanide residue from improper preparation causes goiters and acute cyanide poisoning, and is linked to ataxia (a neurological disorder affecting the ability to walk, also known as konzo).<ref name="FAO-1990" /> It has also been linked to tropical fibrocalcific pancreatitis in humans, leading to chronic pancreatitis.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Harford-2019">Template:Cite web</ref>

Symptoms of acute cyanide intoxication appear four or more hours after ingesting raw or poorly processed cassava: vertigo, vomiting, goiter, ataxia, partial paralysis, collapse, and death.<ref name="ProMED-2017">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It can be treated easily with an injection of thiosulfate (which makes sulfur available for the patient's body to detoxify by converting the poisonous cyanide into thiocyanate).<ref name="FAO-1990"/>

Chronic, low-level exposure to cyanide may contribute to both goiter and tropical ataxic neuropathy, also called konzo, which can be fatal. The risk is highest in famines, when as many as 3 percent of the population may be affected.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Like many other root and tuber crops, both bitter and sweet varieties of cassava contain antinutritional factors and toxins, with the bitter varieties containing much larger amounts.<ref name="FAO-1990">Template:Cite book</ref> The more toxic varieties of cassava have been used in some places as famine food during times of food insecurity.<ref name="ProMED-2017" /><ref name="FAO-1990"/> For example, during the shortages in Venezuela in the late 2010s, dozens of deaths were reported due to Venezuelans resorting to eating bitter cassava in order to curb starvation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Cases of cassava poisoning were also documented during the famine accompanying the Great Leap Forward (1958–1962) in China.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Farmers may select bitter cultivars to reduce crop losses.<ref name="Jiggins-2002">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Societies that traditionally eat cassava generally understand that processing (soaking, cooking, fermentation, etc.) is necessary to avoid getting sick. Brief soaking (four hours) of cassava is not sufficient, but soaking for 18–24 hours can remove up to half the level of cyanide. Drying may not be sufficient, either.<ref name="FAO-1990"/>

For some smaller-rooted, sweet varieties, cooking is sufficient to eliminate all toxicity. The cyanide is carried away in the processing water and the amounts produced in domestic consumption are too small to have environmental impact.<ref name="Cereda 1996"/> The larger-rooted, bitter varieties used for production of flour or starch must be processed to remove the cyanogenic glucosides. The large roots are peeled and then ground into flour, which is then soaked in water, squeezed dry several times, and toasted. The starch grains that flow with the water during the soaking process are also used in cooking.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The flour is used throughout South America and the Caribbean. Industrial production of cassava flour, even at the cottage level, may generate enough cyanide and cyanogenic glycosides in the effluents to have a severe environmental impact.<ref name="Cereda 1996"/>

Uses

Food and drink

There are many ways of cooking cassava.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It has to be prepared correctly to remove its toxicity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The root of the sweet variety is mild to the taste, like potatoes; Jewish households sometimes use it in cholent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It can be made into a flour that is used in breads, cakes and cookies. In Brazil, farofa, a dry meal made from cooked powdered cassava, is roasted in butter, eaten as a side dish, or sprinkled on other food.<ref name="Zeldes-2010">Template:Cite web</ref> In Taiwanese culture, later spread to the United States, cassava "juices" are dried to a fine powder and used to make tapioca, a popular starch used to make bubbles, a chewy topping in bubble tea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Alcoholic beverages made from cassava include cauim (Brazil),<ref name="Schwan-2007">Template:Cite journal</ref> kasiri (Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> parakari or kari (Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and nihamanchi (South America),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

• Heavy cake
  Heavy cake
• Bread
  Bread
• Noodles, Cambodia
  Noodles, Cambodia

Preparation of bitter cassava

An ancestral method used by the indigenous people of the Caribbean to detoxify cassava is by peeling, grinding, and mashing; filtering the mash through a basket tube (sebucan or tipiti) to remove the hydrogen cyanide; and drying and sieving the mash for flour. The poisonous filtrate water was boiled to release the hydrogen cyanide, and used as a base for stews.<ref name="Keegan-2008">Template:Cite book</ref>

A safe processing method known as the "wetting method" is to mix the cassava flour with water into a thick paste, spread it in a thin layer over a basket and then let it stand for five hours at 30 °C in the shade.<ref name="Bradbury-2006">Template:Cite journal</ref> In that time, about 83% of the cyanogenic glycosides are broken down by linamarase; the resulting hydrogen cyanide escapes to the atmosphere, making the flour safe for consumption the same evening.<ref name="Bradbury-2006" />

The traditional method used in West Africa is to peel the roots and put them into water for three days to ferment. The roots are then dried or cooked. In Nigeria and several other west African countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso, they are usually grated and lightly fried in palm oil to preserve them. The result is a foodstuff called garri. Fermentation is also used in other places such as Indonesia, such as Tapai. The fermentation process also reduces the level of antinutrients, making the cassava a more nutritious food.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The reliance on cassava as a food source and the resulting exposure to the goitrogenic effects of thiocyanate has been responsible for the endemic goiters seen in the Akoko area of southwestern Nigeria.<ref name="Akindahunsi-1998">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

• Tuberous root, peeled and soaking to reduce toxicity
  Tuberous root, peeled and soaking to reduce toxicity
• Filling a sebucan or tipiti filter
  Filling a sebucan or tipiti filter

Bioengineering has been applied to grow cassava with lower cyanogenic glycosides combined with fortification of vitamin A, iron and protein to improve the nutrition of people in sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In Guyana the traditional cassareep is made from bitter cassava juice.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The juice is boiled until it is reduced by half in volume,<ref name="Jackson-1872">Template:Cite journal</ref> to the consistency of molasses<ref name="Nicholls-1906">Template:Cite book</ref> and flavored with spices—including cloves, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Traditionally, cassareep was boiled in a soft pot, the actual "pepper pot", which would absorb the flavors and also impart them (even if dry) to foods such as rice and chicken cooked in it.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The poisonous but volatile hydrogen cyanide is evaporated by heating.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Nevertheless, improperly cooked cassava has been blamed for a number of deaths.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Amerindians from Guyana reportedly made an antidote by steeping chili peppers in rum.<ref name="Nicholls-1906"/> The natives of Guyana traditionally brought the product to town in bottles,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and it is available on the US market in bottled form.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Nutrition

Raw cassava is 60% water, 38% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and has negligible fat (table).<ref name="Tewe-2004">Template:Cite web</ref> In a Template:Convert reference serving, raw cassava provides Template:Convert of food energy and 23% of the Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C, but otherwise has no micronutrients in significant content (i.e., above 10% of the relevant DV).<ref name="Tewe-2004" />

Biofuel

Cassava has been studied as a feedstock to produce ethanol as a biofuel, including to improve the efficiency of conversion from cassava flour,<ref name="Bakky-2021">Template:Cite journal</ref> and to convert crop residues such as stems and leaves as well as the more easily processed roots.<ref name="Sivamani-2018">Template:Cite journal</ref> China has created facilities to produce substantial amounts of ethanol fuel from cassava roots.<ref name="Anderson-Sprecher">Template:Cite web</ref>

Animal feed

Cassava roots and hay are used worldwide as animal feed. Young cassava hay is harvested at three to four month, when it reaches about Template:Convert above ground; it is dried in the sun until its dry matter content approaches 85 percent. The hay contains 20–27 percent protein and 1.5–4 percent tannin. It is valued as a source of roughage for ruminants such as cattle.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

• Grating of tuberous roots
  Grating of tuberous roots
• A close-up of the product
  A close-up of the product
• Drying on road to be used for pig and chicken feed
  Drying on road to be used for pig and chicken feed

Laundry starch

Cassava is used in laundry products, especially as starch to stiffen shirts and other garments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Folklore

In Java, a myth relates that food derives from the body of Dewi Teknowati, who killed herself rather than accept the advances of the god Batara Guru. She was buried, and her lower leg grew into a cassava plant.<ref name="Sudardi-2016">Template:Cite journal</ref> In Trinidad, folk stories tell of a saapina or snake-woman; the word is related to sabada, meaning to pound, for what is traditionally a woman's work of pounding cassava.<ref name="Provost-2011">Template:Cite journal</ref>

The identity of the Macushi people of Guyana is closely bound up with the growth and processing of cassava in their slash-and-burn subsistence lifestyle. A story tells that the great spirit Makunaima climbed a tree, cutting off pieces with his axe; when they landed on the ground, each piece became a type of animal. The opossum brought the people to the tree, where they found all the types of food, including bitter cassava. A bird told the people how to prepare the cassava safely.<ref name="Schacht-2013">Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

• Columbian Exchange
• Maní (Amazonian legend)
• Yellow cassava
• Cassava-based dishes

External links

• Cassava – Purdue University Horticulture
• Cassava Pests: From Crisis to Control
• Why cassava? Global Cassava Development Strategy Template:Webarchive