Jamaican Cuisine Codexery

Cassava

A drought-tolerant tropical staple feeding over 500 million people.

Last updated

Cassava

Mokkie · CC BY-SA 3.0

Cassava is a bushy shrub with tuberous roots and palmate-lobed leaves, grown as an annual root crop in tropical areas worldwide.[1][2] Its storage root is long and tapered, with a rough brown rind and firm white or yellowish flesh.[3]

Scientific classification

  1. CladeTracheophytes
  2. CladeAngiosperms
  3. CladeEudicots
  4. CladeRosids
  5. OrderMalpighiales
  6. FamilyEuphorbiaceae
  7. GenusManihot
  8. SpeciesManihot esculenta

Named by Crantz

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Cassava (CC BY-SA 4.0) · order, family and genus agree with WoRMS AphiaID 1491974 (CC BY 4.0)

Where the cassava has been recorded

Where the cassava has been recorded109 mapped locations from 34,804 GBIF occurrence records

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (34,804 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 499 inland records left out (institution coordinates).

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain)

Quick Facts

Genus
Manihot
Species
esculenta

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

The common name "cassava" comes from the Taíno word caçabi via French or Portuguese.[4] Cassava, a perennial crop, is typically gathered within twelve months of being planted.[3] The upper portion of commercial varieties measures 5 to 10 cm across, while their length ranges from 15 to 30 cm.[3] Communities with a tradition of eating cassava know that processing methods like soaking, cooking, or fermenting are required to prevent illness.[5]

What the cited sources add

The North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox notes that cassava grows best under full sun or partial shade in moist, fertile, sandy well-drained soil.[2] The same source states that cultivated cassava is classed into bitter varieties grown for starch and sweet varieties grown as a vegetable.[2] The same article explains that in South America, where humans have eaten cassava for thousands of years, tribes have learned the many steps needed to detoxify it completely: scrape, grate, wash, boil the liquid, leave the solid to stand for two days, then bake.[6] The Singapore National Parks record states that the genus Manihot is from the Tupi-Guarani name "manioca" which means cassava.[1]

References

  1. "Manihot esculenta Crantz", Singapore National Parks. facts only, no text reused. nparks.gov.sg
  2. "Manihot esculenta", North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. facts only, no text reused. plants.ces.ncsu.edu
  3. Wikipedia, "Cassava" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Basic Report: 11134, Cassava, raw", National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28, May 2016; Ceballos, "Rapid Cycling Recurrent Selection for Increased Carotenoids Content in Cassava Roots", Crop Science, November 1, 2013, p. 2342–2351; Latif, "Potential of cassava leaves in human nutrition: a review", Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2015, p. 147–158; Ravindran, "Preparation of cassava leaf products and their use as animal feeds", FAO Animal Production and Health Paper, 1992, p. 111–125 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Cassava" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Manihot esculenta Crantz", Singapore National Parks; "manioc (n.)", Online Etymology Dictionary; "Manihot esculenta Crantz", Singapore National Parks; "cassava (n.)", Online Etymology Dictionary; "yucca (n.)", Online Etymology Dictionary (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Cassava" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition", Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 1990 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Harford, "How do people learn to cook a poisonous plant safely?", BBC News, September 4, 2019. facts only, no text reused. bbc.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Cassava (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Euphorbiaceae

More in Jamaican cuisine

Coco breadCooking bananaCorn soupDuckanooEscabecheGoat curryHard dough breadItalJamaican pepperpot soupJerk (cooking)JohnnycakeRice and peas

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →