December, 1§08.] 



S2t 



Edible Products. 



lumps and only slightly heated, it 

 (farina) is called conague, a native term. 

 When simply grated and dried at the 

 lire in the form of a pikelet or muffin (the 

 torta or bunelo of Spanish America) it is 

 called cassava. * * * It is generally con- 

 sumed under this form in French Guiana. 

 » • * ip^g search dried in the open air is 

 known as cispa or nioussache ; from this 

 sweetened cakas are made, and other 

 very agreeable dishes and pastry. * * * 

 Cassava starch can be made use of in 

 the preparation of all kinds of cakes, 

 just as flour or the common starches. 

 It gives them a particularly agreeable 

 flavour, and greatly increases their 

 hygienic and nutritive properties. Pre- 

 pared with boiled milk, cassava starch 

 is highly digestible and should freely 

 be given to young children. Mixed with 

 even a small proportion of ground malt 

 its digestibility is increased, and it then 

 vies with more expensive articles which 

 are much advertised. 



The coarsest meal is called "couac." 

 The crude pulp, or squeezed or more or 

 less washed pulp, or the crude or washed 

 starch, is heated in various parts of the 

 Tropics in a variety of ways, forming 

 products more or less like pure tapioca. 

 In some of the West ludian islands the 

 people bake the cassava bread hard 

 and store it, sometimes for as long as 

 twelve months. In East Africa the meal 

 is dried in the sun so that it can be kept 

 for six months. 



While a comparatively small part of 

 the starch which becomes an article of 

 commerce is used as food, it is more 

 readily digestible than any other kind 

 of starch produced in great quantities, 

 and has a superior flavour. Its rivals as 

 high-grade food starches are the several 

 kinds of arrowroot, all of which are 

 decidedly more expensive. The old 

 trade name of pure manioc starch was 

 " Brazilian arrowroot." 



Tapioca is made by squeezing, rolling, 

 or shaking the moist starch into round 

 pellets, commonly by forcing them 

 through a cullender into a piece of 

 shaken canvas. These pellets are then 

 rolled or fall into an iron plate or table, 

 which is also shaken and whose tem- 

 perature is about 100°O. The heat 

 causes a partial conversion of the starch 

 into sugar, and makes the pellets swell 

 somewhat and become gelatinous in 

 appearance. The product of this treat- 

 ment is called "pearl tapioca." If the 

 pellets are 1 to 1*5 millimeters in dia- 

 meter, it is called" seed tapioca"; and 

 if they are 3 millimeters in diameter, 

 "medium pearl"; if they are five 

 millimeters in diameter, " bulled pearl." 

 "Flaked tapioca" is heated and changed 



in composition in the same way, without 

 being previously put into the pellet form. 

 Tapioca is a large export of Brazil and 

 the Straits Settlements. The highest- 

 priced tapioca is from Rio Janeiro. That 

 fromBahiais yellowish, not being made 

 from clean starch, and brings a quite 

 inferior price. 



Boiling the juice squeezed out of the 

 roots drives whatever poison may be 

 present. The natives of Paraguay make 

 molasses by boiling down the juice 

 of a very sugary variety. " Cassar'eep" 

 is a boiled-down juice of a similar 

 consistency, made usually from bitter 

 manioc in the northern part of South 

 America; it is flivoured with meat 

 juices and pepppr to make the sauce 

 known in the West Indies as " pepper- 

 pot." " Piwarri" is the product of chew- 

 ing and expectorating the roots and 

 then letting thein ferment. 



The leaves are stewed and eaten as 

 greens in Java and Africa. 



The foremost aim in the development 

 of the manioc industry in the United 

 States has been the use of the roots as 

 food for cattle. The experiments made 

 to this end have not all come up to 

 the too roseate anticipations. Manioc 

 contains a greater percentage of nour- 

 ishment than does any other root crop, 

 but by itself it is a most unbalanced 

 ration. When it is fed alone, or with 

 another crop rich in carbohydrate but 

 not in proteid, it is only natural that 

 cattle presently tire of it aud lose weight. 

 When the roots have been used for 

 starch manufacture, more than half of 

 the refuse is still often made up of 

 starch, for the sake of which this waste 

 has still a fodder value. This waste is 

 called "bitty." Manioc, whether the 

 whole roots or the bitty, ought clearly 

 to be fed on a large scale only when 

 accompanied by some other food, which 

 must be rich in proteid. Manioc is the 

 principal fodder raised for cattle in 

 Mauritius. 



Peanut fodder suggests itself for such 

 use in the Philippines. In Paraguay 

 cattle are fed on the tops of the manioc 

 plant, and are said to take well to this 

 diet and thrive on it. Experiments with 

 hogs in the United States have given 

 better results than those with cattle, and 

 in the Straits Settlements the bitty is 

 regularly used for hog feed. Cassava 

 is fed to poultry in many places. In 

 the United States it has been found 

 that it is excellent for fattening fowls, 

 but does not make them lay well. For 

 use as a fodder, the failure of manioc 

 to keep after it is dug is more than 

 counterbalanced by its remaining sound 

 indefinitely if left in the ground. 



