it. Because of its consistency, it is more difficult to eat enough to give the feeling of 

 completion, loakhuta, than with maize porridge, hence it is more important than 

 with the latter, that the side-dish should be of a suitable kind. Thus fish or well 

 cooked leaves are much liked with cassava porridge, while beans are not nearly so 

 popular. 



Tubers of sweet tasting varieties are often wrapped in banana leaves after they 

 have been soaked, and roasted in ashes. They are called cipunya Kota Kota, 

 cipumu (Tu), cinbofwa (Nk). 



Boiled cassava mashed well with pounded groundnuts and salt, makes a form 

 of mamboga (Y), the food often used by Mohammedans especially to "break" the 

 fast during Ramadhan. 



Tubers of sweet-tasting kinds are often roasted without previous soaking, 

 cinangwa coocha (N). In this form they are often on sale at markets. 

 Sweet tubers are often eaten raw, they taste rather like coconut. 



Beer is commonly made from cassava flour, wherever it is available. For its 

 method of preparation, see Zea mays. The beer goes sour more quickly than that 

 made from other flours and hence there are many opportunities in areas where it is 

 brewed, to distil raw spirit, kacasu, from such spoiled brews. 



The tuber peelings when burnt make a "strong" ash which is used particularly 

 in the cooking of tough leaves. 



THE LEAVES 



Cigwada, ntapasya (Y), ntapasa (N), (Y), matapacagwa (Ngu), ncokobwe mayani 

 (To), icigwada (Nk). 



Young leaves, usually from one year old plants are picked. The women learn 

 by experience which plants give bitter leaves and avoid these kinds. The stalks 

 are thrown away and the blades pounded in a mortar until well broken up. A 

 concentracted solution of potash {cidulo) is prepared often from cassava peelings and 

 put in a pot. The leaves are added and boiled, the mixture froths up considerably 

 and needs continual stirring. After about 20 minutes the mixture is soft and 

 because of the added alkali is of a bright green colour. Pounded groundnuts and 

 salt are added and after a few minutes the dish is ready to serve. Groundnuts are 

 most necessary otherwise the product is rather bitter. Where the latter are available, 

 cassava leaves are well liked but in places, as at Kota Kota or the Chinteche Lake- 

 shore, where for long periods groundnuts are not available, the leaves are heartily 

 disliked and often the women will not bother to cook porridge if there is only cigwada 

 for a side-dish. 



The leaves are occasionally cooked without the use of soda or potashes, in 

 which case the product is almost black in colour and rather stringy. 

 Cassareep. 



This product is much used in the making of well-known sauces and the famous 

 " pepper pot " of the West Indies. It is made by extracting the liquid from soaked 

 bitter varieties and boiling it until a thick b^o^vn liquid results. 



Ref. 4; 23; 27. 



*300. Manihot spp. (Euphorb.), Tree cassava. 



Mpira, mpira iva cizungu (N), kapanti (Tu), ntengere (Ncheu). 



There are a number of varieties of cassava in the country which range in size 

 from a shrub little bigger than the ordinary kind to a tall tree. One kind, very 

 common in N.A. Mponda's area in Fort Johnston, grows to a height of about 15 ft., 

 has a rounded crown and is called mpira (Rubber) while at Mua Mission, in the Dedza 

 District, there is an avenue of tall trees which are also called mpira. Possibly one 

 of these kinds is Manihot glaziovii Muell. Arg. Ceara rubber. Found more or 

 less all over the country, more common at elevations below 3,500 ft. 



90 



