what is tapioca and where does it come from?

Answer 1

A beady starch obtained from the root of the cassava, used for puddings and as a thickening agent in cooking.


The cassava plant is: A shrubby tropical American plant (Manihot esculenta) widely grown for its large, tuberous, starchy roots.
The root of this plant, eaten as a staple food in the tropics only after leaching and drying to remove cyanide. Cassava starch is also the source of tapioca.

Answer 2

"Tapioca is an essentially flavourless starchy ingredient, or fecula, produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking. It is similar to sago and is commonly used to make a milky pudding similar to rice pudding. Purchased tapioca comprises many small white spheres each about 2 mm in diameter. These are not seeds, but rather reconstituted processed root. The processing concept is akin to the way that wheat is turned into pasta."

Now as for where it comes from....as noted above, it comes from the casava plant and this is what wikipedia says about that:

"The cassava or manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrate."

It appears to be found in South/Central America, the Carribean, Africa, and the Far East...all in tropical/sub-tropical regions.

Answer 3

From boiled casava root. The plant grows well throughout the tropics and warmer humid climates. The root produces a rich supply of starch when boiled. The starch is used in dozens of ways. It is used as starch for stiffening cloth, as a base for soup or pudding, it is put into pearl form and sold dried in bags. The dried pearls, popular in asian countries, is put into tea or other drinks where they soften up. Considered a delicacy.

Casava is one of the most widely used and versatile plants in the world, though used chiefly among asian, indian, and other warm climate cultures.

Oh yes, one more very unique use for casava!!! The casava was used by the Amerinds before the eurpoeans explored South America. The amerinds would process the root in boiling pots and after they finished there would remain a burnt residue in the kettle. The amerinds would discard this residue until African and Indian plantation workers brought to south america by the Brittish started using it as a soup base for a dish called pepper pot. Pepper pot (though originally a european dish) was adapted to south american ingredients, particularly casava. The casava in its burnt residue form is called "casareep". It is sticky sweet and very strong with burnt flavor. It is added to meat and masala and boiled daily. A pepper pot dish can last for months. The family just keeps adding more stuff to it every day. But south american pepper pot must have the casareep! Yummy, I am hungry just thinking about it.

Answer 4

tapioca is a flour,and it's made from a corn.tapioca is comes from Indonesia.

Answer 5

tapioca is just pudding with soften rice in it and i have no clue where it came from

Answer 6

it is pudding, and I dont know where it comes from.