Ingredient

Cassava

Cassava is a starchy root eaten by a very large share of the world's population, and it is the source of tapioca, garri, fufu and a great deal else. It is also the one common staple that genuinely must be prepared properly before it is eaten, and that fact is worth stating plainly at the top of the page.

Why processing is not optional

Raw cassava contains compounds that release cyanide when the plant tissue is damaged. This is a real property of the plant rather than a cautionary tale, and it is why every cassava-eating culture in the world has developed processing methods — soaking, fermenting, grating, pressing, drying and cooking — that remove them.

There are two broad types. Sweet cassava is lower in these compounds and is the kind generally sold as a fresh vegetable for boiling and frying; peeling and thorough cooking is what it needs. Bitter cassava is much higher in them, is grown because it stores better and resists pests, and requires extended processing — the grating, fermenting and pressing that produces garri and cassava flour.

Cassava is never eaten raw, and it is never lightly cooked. Peel it, discard the peel and the central fibrous core, and cook it thoroughly. Processed products — garri, tapioca, cassava flour, frozen prepared cassava — have already been through this and are ready to use as sold.

For guidance on preparing fresh cassava safely, the Food Standards Agency is the authority to consult rather than a cookery page.

What is made from it

Fresh root

Boiled, fried or roasted as a starchy vegetable. Called yuca in Latin America. Dense, mild, slightly sweet, faintly waxy. Excellent fried.

Garri

West African. Grated, fermented, pressed and roasted into coarse granules. Eaten soaked in water as a cold meal, or stirred into hot water into eba, a swallow eaten with soup.

Fufu

Pounded boiled cassava, often with plantain or yam, into a smooth dense dough. Eaten with the fingers alongside soup.

Tapioca

Extracted cassava starch. Sold as pearls, flakes or flour. Used in puddings, bubble tea, and as a thickener and gluten-free flour.

Cassava flour

The whole dried root ground. Different from tapioca starch, which is only the starch — they are not interchangeable in baking.

Farofa

Brazilian. Toasted cassava flour, often fried with butter and bacon, sprinkled over food for texture.

Cooking fresh cassava

• Peel it properly. The skin is thick and brown with a pink layer beneath, and both come off. A knife works better than a peeler.
• Cut out the woody central core, which runs the length of the root and does not soften.
• Boil until genuinely tender — a fork should go through with no resistance. It takes longer than potato.
• Then fry it, if you want the best version. Boiled and then deep-fried cassava is crisp outside and fluffy inside, and it is better than a chip.
• With garlic and citrus. Boiled cassava with a garlic and lime or sour orange dressing — Cuban yuca con mojo — is the classic treatment.
• In stews, where it holds together well and absorbs the sauce.
• Frozen prepared cassava is widely sold, already peeled and cored, and is a genuinely good shortcut.

Preparing a fresh root

The peeling is unlike anything else in the vegetable rack, and the core is not optional. For guidance on safe preparation, consult the Food Standards Agency.

1. Cut the root into manageable lengths, roughly ten centimetres each. A whole cassava is long, tapered and awkward.
2. Stand a piece on its cut end and run a knife down the side, deep enough to take off the brown bark and the pink layer beneath it together. A peeler will not manage it.
3. Work round the piece until all of both layers is gone and you have clean white flesh.
4. Split each piece lengthways and cut out the tough fibrous cord running down the centre. It never softens and it will not be pleasant.
5. Put the prepared pieces into cold water while you finish the rest, which stops them discolouring.
6. Cook them thoroughly — boiling until a fork goes through with no resistance at all. Cassava is never eaten raw and never lightly cooked.

Common questions