The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1877-01-18

What the wheat plant is to the In
habitants of cold climates, the Cassava
plant is to the tropics. From the Cas-
sava root is manufactured the Tapioca
of commerce, aud how it Is done, and
the great value of the plant is pleas
antly told by III. F. A. Pinckney in
late number of the american Grocer,
from which we condense the follow
ing:
The plant from which Tapioca Is
made is native of South America,
and Is cultivated extensively in Bra
I'll, as also in many parts of the East
Indies and the Indian Archipelago.
It is woody plant, slender stalks,
and grows to the height of about eight
feet, and is known as the Cassava
or Maudioc plant. it has smooth,
palm-shaped leaves, and bears small
green flowers, which grow in clusters,
with an immense-sized, fleshy root,
sometimes weighing as much as 40 or
so pounds. The plant belongs to
nightly poisonous tribe, and is itself
one OF the most virulent of the specs.
This poison is found more particularly
in the juice of the plant. small guam
tity killing birds, quadrupeds, and
even man himself, causing cold pers-
piration, great swelling, and csnvul-'
sions, generally ending in death; but
this deleterious substance il 30 highly
volatile if exposed to heat, or even the
open air for about two days, that its
property is entirely dissipated.
The root from which Tapioca is pro-
cured is of rapid growth and comes to
perfection in six months, and some
what resembles huge parsnip. 1t is
then taken up and washed, and the
rind which is of dark color, peeled
off, then grated or ground into pulp
and the pulp submitted to pressure by
which the juice is expressed and pre-
served. The meat or pulp that re-
mains in the press, being dried, is call
ed conaque, and is made into bread or
cake, which is called cassava bread.
The expressed juice, being allowed to
stand, deposits white powder, which,
after being well washed and dried,
constitutes what Is called Tapioca
fiuor as Brazilian arrowroot, and by
the French, moussache. All the pro-
ducts ofthe root are nutritious and
easy of digestion. The natives fire.
quently ferment the expressed juice
with molasses and form an intoxicat-
ing beverage called onycan, that sup
plies the place Of wine and beer Of the
temperate climate.
There are nine different species emu
merated by botanists, but two only of
which are cultivated for human food;
they are known as the bitter cassava
and the sweet cassava. The two roots
are very similar, the first by far the
most poisonous, the only perceptable
difference between the roots being
tough ligneous cord running through
the center Of the sweet cassava root,
which the bitter variety is wholly
without.
Bread is made of both kinds, which
is palatable and wholesome. In Guinia |
the mode of preparation is rs follows: |
The root is rasped on large tines or
wooden CRATES fixed on benches, be-
hind which the women employed in
making ii stand in rows. A sufficient
quantity being rasped for one time
for the surplus would ferment and
spoil 1T is put in long, circular baskets
of plated rushes, about ten feet long
and ten inches in diameter called maui
geuras. These are hung up with
weights attached which draw the
plated work togather, thus squeezing
out the juice. When all the fluid is
extracted, the maugueras are emptied
of their contents on raw hides laid out
in the sun, where the coarse flour soon
dries. 1t is then baked on smooth
plates, made of dry clay, with slow
fire beneath. This is the most difficult
part of the process. The coarse flour
is laid perfectly dry on the hot plates,
when the women, with dexterity on
ly to be acquired by practice, spread it
out in a round and and very thin layer
nearly the size of the plate it is laid
on. This they do merely with piece I
of calabash, which they keep in con-
slant motion, pressing gently every /
part of the surface until the heat has
united the meal into cake, without i
in the least altering the color or scorch-
ing it. Their method of turning a {
cassava cake of that size is like sleight-
of-hand, for they effect it with two
pieces OF split cane without breaking :
1t, though scarcely As thick as dollar. G
and as yet only half cemented togeth- a
er and of a substance always brittle.
when warmed.
The cake is very nourishing and i
will melt to a jelly in a liquid After
becoming cold 1t is broken up aud il
the Tapioca of commerce, but is dan :.
serous if eaten in anv large quantity, ,
when dried, as ii swells, in being mois-
tened, to many times its original bulk.
II will keep good for any length of r
time II kept in dry place. The East Il
ern Tapioca is generally packed in "
bags of 100 pounds each, but that of
south America, and commercially i,
known as Rio Tapioca, Is generally a
packed in barrels of about 20) pounds +
weight. and is considered far superior
quality; consequently it commands
much hig her price. p
Some relics Of the Ashtgbula bridge
lorror came to the L. S. Express office