342 STARCH-PRODUCING PLANTS. 



In this case, however, the woody and cellular tissue, with the 

 small quantity of starch left in it by the ordinary starch process, 

 would form far too poor an article of diet to constitute part of 

 the food of man. But the roots might be used as a medium 

 from which to prepare cassava meal, casareep, and the very small 

 quantity of starch which is expressed along with the juice, leaving 

 all the rest of the starch to form part of the meal. It is of such 

 meal that the cassava cakes of the Indians are prepared ; and 

 although by no means so nutritive as Indian corn meal*, there can 

 be little doubt that in the Scotch and Irish markets the cassava 

 meal would obtain a preference ; and were it exported in quantity 

 it would probably come into extensive use among all classes. 



The process would be as follows : After washing in a revolving 

 apparatus, by which means the adherent earth would be got quit 

 of, and almost the whole of the thin dark colored cuticle become 

 detached, the roots could be reduced to pulp in a rasping-mill, 

 without the use of water ; the pulp might be compressed in bags 

 by hydraulic pressure, whereby the juice, together with a small 

 portion of the starch, would be expressed. After allowing the 

 (starch to subside, the juice should be concentrated to about the 

 density of T4. The starch would be washed, purified, and dried. 

 The contents of the bags would then be broken up and dried in 

 the sun or in a current of air, after which the meal would be 

 sifted through a coarse sieve to separate the coarser parts, 

 which, if their amount was considerable, could be ground 

 and added to the rest. In this state of rough meal it is fit for 

 making the cassava cakes. If ground to flour it might be used to 

 mix with wheat, rye, or barley flour. 



The process is usually conducted as follows : The squeezed 

 pulp is broken up, sifted, and exposed to the sun on trays or mats 

 till it is fully more than half dry. An iron hoop of the size and 

 thickness of the cake to be made is then laid on a griddle or hot 

 plate, and the space within the hoop is filled evenly with the 

 somewhat moist meal, no previous kneading or rolling having been 

 employed. As soon as the coarse meal coheres, the ring is lifted 

 and the cake is turned and heated on the opposite side. The heat 

 should not be sufficient to brown the cake. The cakes are finally 

 dried by exposure to the sun. From the dry cassava meal cakes 



* I have determined the amount of nitrogen contained in the meal made from 

 the whole maize, the growth of the colony, as also from plantain meal ; I have 

 also ascertained its amount in cassava meal, prepared in the manner mentioned 

 in the text, and in meal prepared from the cassava sliced, dried, and ground 

 without expressing the juice. Assuming Liebig's formula of Proteine, namely, 

 C N H the results stand thus : 

 48 6 36 4 



Nitrogen. Proteine compounds. 



Per C3nt. Per cent. 



Maize meal (unhusked) . .173 1072 



Plantain meal . . . '88 5 45 



Cassava meal (juice expressed) . *36 2'23 



Ditto from the sliced and dried roots 78 4 -83 





