Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-06-02
From the Wine Press.
,urney Around the Tapioca Pud


DR.. Bushwhacker folded his napkin, drew it
through the silver ring, laid It the table, folded
his arms, and leaned back in his chair, by which
we knew there was something at work in his knowl
HMy dear madam" said he with Metamora
shake Of his head, there are great many things
to be said about that pudding"
Now, such remark, at season of the year when
eggs are FIVE for shilling, and not always fresh at
that, is~sodgh 10 discomfort anybody. The Doc
tor perceived 1t at once and instantly added, In
geographical point Of view, there are maay things
to be said about the pudding. My dear madam"
he continued, take tapioca itself; what is it. and
where does 1t come irony"
Our eldest boy, just emerging from chickenhood,
answered, "85 Chambers street, two doors below
the Irving House."
"True my dear young friend" responded the
Doctor, with a friendly pat on the head; !" but
that is not what mean. Where" he repeated,
with questioning look through hisspectacles, and
Bushwhackian nod, " does tapioca como from|
'sRio de Janeiro and Para!"
Eyes, sir, from Rio de Janero in the southern,
and Para in the northern part of tho Brazis do we
get our tapioca from the roots called the Mandi-
oca, botanically the jatropha manihot or, as they
say, the cassave. The roots are long and round,
like sweet potato, generally foot or more in
length Every joint Of the plant will produce Its
root like the cutting Of the grape vine. The tu-
beers are dug up from the ground, peeled, scraped
or grated then put in long sacks Of flexible rattan
sacks six feet long or more and at the bottom OF
the sack they suspend large stone, by which the
flexible sides are contracted, and then out pours
the cassave juice in pan placed below to receive
it, This juice is poisonous, and very volatile.
Then my dear madam, it Is macerated in water,
and the residuum, after the volatile part the poi
son. is evaporated, is the innocuous farina, which
looks like small crumbs of bread, and which we
call tapioca from Rio, which is, believe, about
Eve thousand five hundred miles from New York
SO we must put down that as little more than
one-ffth of our voyage around the pudding"
This made our eldest open his eyes.
Eggs and milk, continued DR.. Bushwhacker,
are home productions but sugar, refined sugar,
is made partly of the moist and sweet yellow su-
gar of Louisiana, partly of the hard and dry sugar
of the West Indies; will not 60 into the process
of refining sugar now, but may observe here
that the sugar we get from louisiana, u rehned
and made into loaf would be quite SOFT with large
loose crystals while the Havana sugar, subject to
the same treatment, would make white cone
almost as compact and hard as granite. But We
have made trip TO the Antilles for our sugar, and
NAV add fifteen hundred miles more for the saccha-
rine."
THAT is equal to nearly one-third of the cir;
conference Of the pudding we live upon, Doctor"
Vanilla continued the Doctor, with which
this pudding Is so delightfully."- aavoursd, is the
bean Of vine that grows wild in the multitude
nous forest Of Venezuela, New Granada, Guiana,
and, in fact throughout South America The
long pod which looks like the scabbard ola sword,
suggested the name to the Spaniards vdyana-
meaning scabbard, from which comes the diminu-
tive vanilla or little scabbard-appropriate enough
as every one will allow. The beans, which are
worth here from six TO twenty dollars pound,
could be as easily cultivated as hops in that
climate but the Incidence Of the people Is so
great, that not one Venezuelan has been found |
with sufficient enterprise TO set out one acre OF
vanilla which would yield him a small fortune |
every year. No, sir. The poor poems, or peasants |
raise their garabanzas for daily use, but beyond
they never look. They plant their crops in the
footsteps Of their ancestors and II II had not been
for their ancestors, they would probably have
browsed on the wild grass Of the Ilanos or plains
the tail Of some ancestral kite, in this great
city, my dear, learned friends"
True, Doctor, you are right there"
"Well, sir, the vanilla Is gathered from the wild
vines in the woods Of goes the hidalgo, proud
of his noble ancestry and tolls home under a back
load Of the refuse beans from the trees after the
red monkey has had his pick Of the best. few
reals pay him for the days work. and then, hey for
the cockpit There, Signor 0lofogie meets the
Marquis de Shinpaster, or the Padre Corcorochi,
and Of course gets whstled earnings with the first
click of the gaiis Then back he goes TO his mis-
cradle hammock, and 20 ends his years labor.
That sir, Is the history Of the fayorng and you
win have 10 allow stretch across the Caribbean,
and twenty-five hundred miles for the vanilla"
ave are getting pretty well around, Doctor"
"Then we have sauce, here, wine sauce; Tene-
rife should say, by the favor