Tapioca

“ We thanked the Indians for the assistance they had given us in killing our enemy. They had come, they said, to finish the canoe, and also to inquire about Maono and Illora, whose absence had caused the tribe great alarm. They had also brought us some mandioca-flour and a supply of fruits. Farinha or flour, I should say, is produced from the same root—cassava, or manioc—as is tapioca, and is like it in appearance, only of a yellower colour, caused by the woody fibre mixed with the pure starch which forms the tapioca. ”

“ We partook of all the toothsome dishes of the Punans except boiled fern-fronds and monkey; neither happened to be in the Punan larder at the time. I must candidly admit that to me the sight of the preparation of tapioca is not appetizing. In the first place, the hands which hold the tubers while they are being scraped are none too icy clean, they often dabble in the pulp just after they have been successfully busy in alleviating a neglected or troublesome coiffure. ”

“ Stew them gently till about half done; turning them carefully several times. Then put in the tapioca, [417] and let it simmer with them till perfectly clear, and the apples are tender and well done throughout; but not long enough for them to break and fall to pieces. The tapioca will form a fine clear jelly all round the apples.
This is a nice dessert for children. And also, cooling and nourishing for invalids.
Quinces may be done in the same manner. They require more cooking than apples. For quinces, it is best to use, as flavouring, the grated yellow rind, and the juice of very ripe oranges. ”

“ Among the white people dealing with the Chinese on the Pacific coast the substance in question is commonly known as 'Chinese starch.' In the general importing markets of the United States it is commercially known as tapioca flour, and in those markets the term 'tapioca' includes that article in three forms, viz., flake tapioca, pearl tapioca, and tapioca flour. ”

“ Arrowroot is the purest form of starch food known. Rice is richest in starch of all the grains. Tapioca is prepared from the root of a tropical plant; it is first crushed and the grains washed out with water, then the whole is heated and stirred, thus cooking and [35] breaking the starch grains, which on cooling assume the irregular rough shapes seen in the ordinary tapioca of commerce. Probably a part of the starch is converted into dextrine, which accounts for the peculiarly agreeable flavor which tapioca possesses. ”

“ The French prepare an artificial tapioca from potato starch, mixed with various vegetable substances, for use in soups, &c., which is found in the market under such names as tapioca Crecy, tapioca Julienne, &c., according to the dried vegetables with which the preparations are made. ”

“ Adulterated, corrupted by foreign mixture.
What is Tapioca?
Tapioca is another kind of starch, obtained from the root of the manioc plant, which is cultivated in most hot climates, in Asia, Africa, and America. A flour is also prepared from it, which is used for making bread. It is particularly cultivated in the tropical parts of America, and in the West India islands, where it forms a very important article of food for the Negro population.
[135]
Negro, a name given to the black inhabitants of Africa and their descendants. ”

“ This is made by boiling or heating the pure liquid, after the tapioca has been separated, daily for several days in succession, and seasoning it with peppers and small fishes; when old, it has the taste of essence of anchovies. It is generally made as a liquid, but the Jurí and Miranha tribes on the Japurá make it up in the form of a black paste by a mode of preparation I could not learn; it is then called Tucupí-pixúna, or black Tucupí. I have seen the Indians on the Tapajos, where fish is scarce, season Tucupí with Saüba ants. ”

“ If the pudding is boiled, add a little more tapioca, and boil it in a buttered basin 1-1/2 hour.
Time.—1 hour to bake, 1-1/2 hour to boil.
Average cost, 1s. 2d.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.
TAPIOCA.—Tapioca is recommended to the convalescent, as being easy of digestion. It may be used in soup or broth, or mixed with milk or water, and butter. It is excellent food for either the healthy or sick, for the reason that it is so quickly digested without fatigue to the stomach.
TARTLETS. 1371. INGREDIENTS.—Trimmings of puff-paste, any jam or marmalade that may be preferred. ”

“ They were all ranged in line and counted, after which we took up our march through a plantation of tapioca, the brush standing about level with our heads. Chinese coolies were working about its roots keeping down the great pest of Malayan farmers,—lallang grass. The tapioca was broken in places by a few acres of pepper vines and again by neglected coffee shrubs.
Our procession was truly formidable. Fifty or more natives went on ahead making a path. Then we followed, fifteen in number, each with a native to carry his gun. The rear was brought up by twoscore more and half as many dogs. ”

“ The man-eating tigers, which almost until now infested the old jungle track, have been driven back, and plantations of tobacco, tapioca, and rice have been started along the road. On a single Chinese plantation, near Kwala Lumpor, there are over two thousand acres of tapioca under cultivation, and the enterprising Chinaman who owns it has imported European steam machinery for converting the tapioca roots into the marketable article. Whatever enterprise I hear of in the interior is always in the hands of Chinamen. ”

“ After removing from the fire add orange juice, lemon, butter and the yolk of an egg or serve with sterilized cream.
People with a tendency to acid fermentation should not mix boiled cereals with fruits.
98 BERRY TAPIOCA. Cook one quart of raspberries or blackberries with two quarts of water, a piece of cinnamon, add three-fourths to one cup of sugar, let boil slowly, then strain and cool. Reheat and prepare with instantaneous tapioca. Pour on a soup plate, pour sterilized cream over it. In cold weather, the cream as well as the tapioca should be served warm. ”

“ Remove from boiling water—mixture clears and thickens as it cools. When slightly cool, add orange juice and rind. Chill; fold in cream. Pile lightly in sherbet glasses. Just before serving, garnish with very fine 1⁄4-inch shreds of orange rind, free from all white membrane. Serves 6.
11 SPRING FRUIT TAPIOCA
2 cups water
1⁄3 cup Minute Tapioca
11⁄4 cups sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
21⁄2 cups rhubarb, cut in 1⁄2-inch pieces
1 cup shredded fresh pineapple
Place water in top of double boiler and bring to a boil over direct heat. ”

“ The Treasury Department has heretofore announced decisions which are entitled to much weight upon the question herein presented. Prior to the tariff act of 1870 (16 Stat. at L. 256, 268, chap. 255) , both starch and tapioca had been made dutiable, sometimes at the same and sometimes at different rates of duty. By the latter act, 'tapioca, cassava, or cassada' were placed in the free list, while 'root flour' was placed in the free list in 1872. 17 Stat. at L. 236, chap. 315. The Treasury Department held tapioca flour entitled to free entry as tapioca. ”

“ The mandioca is a root resembling the yam, from which is produced the tapioca of commerce. Life and death are blended in the plant, but every part of it is useful if properly treated, and is as essential to the domestic economy of Brazil and Paraguay as rice is to China, or as potatoes are to Ireland. It is served at every meal, from that taken from the dinner-pail of the laborer to the banquet of the grandees, just as bread is with us, and is made into as many forms of food as our flour. ”

“ The Aipi grows in Brazil, and according to T. Ashe, may be eaten raw, and, when pressed, yields a pleasant juice for drink; or being inspissated by the heat of the sun, is kept either to be boiled and eaten, or dissolved and drank. The tapinambar grows in Chili, and is used by the Indians.
The tapioca, or bay rash, a plant which grows about the out-islands of the Bahamas group, was found of great use as a food plant to the inhabitants of Long Island, during a scarcity of food occasioned by the drought in 1843. ”

“ Subsequently, when Congress by the act of 1890 omitted root flour from the free list and imposed a duty upon starch and all preparations, from whatever substance produced, fit for use as starch, we do not think that any argument can be drawn therefrom in favor of the construction which would impose a duty on tapioca flour as a preparation fit for use as starch, while at the same time there is a clause in the act providing for free entry of tapioca, the substance tapioca flour being one of its forms. ”

“ Mold. Serve with anything suitable for Irish Moss Blanc Mange.
Eva’s Tapioca Cream—none better 4 tablespns. minute, pearl or flake tapioca (3 only of cassava or manioca) 1 scant cup of warm water 1 qt. milk 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspn. vanilla salt
Soak tapioca in water (pearl or flake 2 hrs., minute or manioca 10 m.) and cook with milk and sugar in double boiler until transparent; add beaten yolks, stir for a moment, remove from fire, add vanilla and pour into serving dish, cover with the whites of eggs beaten with 1–11⁄2 tablespn. sugar. Tint on top grate of oven. Serve cold. ”

“ Their food is varied; the wilder tribes living on jungle fruits and game they hunt with the blowpipe, while the more civilized grow yams, sweet potatoes, maize, sugar cane, rice and tapioca. The Sakai blow-pipe is a tube 6 to 8 ft. ”

“ Sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter, and bake for an hour. Serve either hot or cold with cream or any preferred sauce. Apples, apricots, blackberries, cherries, currants, figs, gooseberries, plums, blueberries, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, quinces, raspberries, and strawberries are all used in the same way. The less tart fruits require a little lemon-juice sprinkled on them. In making apple tapioca sprinkle each layer of apples with sugar and spice. A delicious pudding is made of strawberries and bananas sliced and combined with the tapioca. ”

“ Place over rapidly boiling water, bring to scalding point (allow 3 to 5 minutes) , and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Strain hot mixture, stirring (not rubbing) through very fine sieve, onto 1⁄3 cup sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Chill. Add 2 tablespoons sugar to egg whites and beat until stiff; fold into cold tapioca mixture. Fold in cream and vanilla. Turn into freezing tray of automatic refrigerator; freeze as rapidly as possible—3 to 4 hours usually required. ”

“ It gives them their farinha,—a coarse kind of flour, their only substitute for bread,—their tapioca, and also a kind of fermented juice called tucupi,—a more questionable blessing, perhaps, since it affords them the means of getting intoxicated. After being peeled, the roots of the mandioca are scraped on a very coarse grater; in this condition they make a moist kind of paste, which is then packed in elastic straw tubes, made of the fibres of the Jacitará Palm (Desmonchus) . When her tube, which has always a loop at either end, is full, the Indian woman hangs it on the branch of a tree ”

“ Again, plain boiled tapioca and sago (in water) are as nearly tasteless as anything can be; they merely yield a feeling of gumminess; but milk, in which they are oftenest cooked, gives them a relish (in the sense here restricted) , and sugar, eggs, cinnamon, or nutmeg are usually added by way of flavoring. Even turbot has hardly any taste proper, except in the glutinous skin, which has a faint relish ”

“ The Indians here made their mandiocca bread very differently from, and very superior to, those of the adjacent rivers. The greater part is tapioca, which they mix with a small quantity of the prepared mandiocca-root, and form a white, gelatinous, granular cake, which with a little use is very agreeable, and is much sought after by all the white traders on the river. Farinha they scarcely ever eat themselves, but make it only to sell ”

“ Food-stuffs often, balls of kenki white as snow, yams and cassada, which is the root of which we make tapioca, cobs of Indian corn, and, of course, stink-fish that comes all the way from the Coast and is highly prized as a food, and does not appear to induce ptomaine poisoning in African stomachs. ”

“ These people are very well off, on account of planting rice twice a year, one kind called Asas being ready in three months, the other in five months. They have plenty of the great essential rice, and trust to hunting for most of their flesh; they, however, keep pigs and a few fowls. Tapioca is a mere weed; dressed as a potato it is excessively indigestible; I have observed some sweet potatoes, and also some yams and Indian corn. They have no fruit-trees, contenting themselves with a few bananas. ”

“ Farinha they scarcely ever eat themselves, but make it only to sell; and as they extract the tapioca, which is the pure glutinous portion of the root, to make their own bread, they mix the refuse with a little fresh mandiocca to make farinha, which is thus of a very poor quality; yet such is the state of agriculture on the Rio Negro, that the city of Barra201 depends in a great measure upon this refuse food of the Indians, and several thousand alqueires are purchased, and most of it sent there, annually. ”

“ A superior kind of meal is manufactured at Ega of the sweet mandioca (Manihot Aypi) ; it is generally made with a mixture of the starch of the root, and is therefore a much more wholesome article of food than the ordinary sort which, on the Amazons, is made of the pulp after the starch has been extracted by soaking in water. When we could get neither bread nor biscuit, I found tapioca soaked in coffee the best native substitute. We were seldom without butter, as every canoe brought one or two casks on each return voyage from Pará, where it is imported in considerable quantity from Liverpool. ”