Talk:Tapioca

message: How can New Ulm be considered the world tapioca capital if the dish isn't even from there? This information must be vandalism, or otherwise an absurd claim by the people from that town. 00:56, 6 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Ulm 

message: Can you put in some images of both the pearls and the original plant? It would be very helpful. Iopq 23:38, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Images 

message: What is the support for the red/green branches assertion? The usual dichotomy is between bitter and sweet varieties, with the latter sometimes (erroneously) considered not to require removal of cyanide-generating components before consumption (although this is disputed). I'm inclined to remove the red/green phrase from this article. Myron 10:28, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Red/Green branches? 

message: The article says "'Tapioca' in Britain often refers to a rice pudding thickened with arrowroot,[citation needed]". I'm a British person; I have never heard of this and think it is highly unlikely. Tapioca pudding is made from tapioca pearls (not pre-soaked). We normally cook it by simmering it with milk, sugar and a little vanilla, and then baking it in the oven, often with nutmeg sprinkled over. PhilG (talk) 19:53, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  The "fact" about Britain is highly dubious 

message: The opening line
: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.
suggests that it is a processed product from the cassava root. Later paragraphs seems contradict that. "In the South Indian State of Kerala Tapioca is a staple food. Boiled Tapioca is normally eaten with fish curry or beef, and is a traditional favorite of Keralites.", "During World War II's Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia, many refugees survived on tapioca." This article mentioned the various names cassava goes by in different countries. Most notably, that cassava is known as tapioca in india. I can't find any other mention, but where I live, tapioca is used to refer to the cassava root as well. --Dodo bird 14:43, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is tapioca a processed food? 

message: Here, at least — I don't know about other countries — tapioca pearls are labelled as "sago", presumably because of their shape, but even though it is a different plant entirely! porges 06:06, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Zealand 

message: Done already. Closed. 79.72.144.208 (talk) 15:54, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Done, with  this edit, in November 2006. Closed and archived. 79.72.144.208 (talk) 15:54, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge proposal

message: Closed, no support for merge. 79.72.144.208 (talk) 15:58, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: You are completely wrong. Cassava or yucca are known in Brazil (therefore in portuguese) as MANDIOCA (or also, if they are of the non-poisonous variety, as aipim or macaxeira). Tapioca is a starch obtained from the mandioca. Tapioca is a word that originates from the tupi language word "typy'oka" (or "typy'aka"), which means "sediment", "clot", it may also come from the words "(t)ypy" meaning "bottom" and "'ok" meaning "remove", so it would be something like "removed from the bottom". To make tapioca you must grate a skinned cassava, then mix this with water into a cylindrical recipient, after some time, part of this mix will sediment and clot at the bottom of the cylinder, this is what the tupi called tapioca, and is what brazilians call tapioca. And this is also what is used to make tapioca pearls, tapioca puddings, etc, meaning that this is also how the british and americans call the starch, tapioca. In India, apparently, cassava is called tapioca, that is fine, but it is not the same thing as the tapioca that is being discussed in this article, (i.e. the starch known as tapioca to american and british english speakers) but the tuberous root called cassava, yucca, or mandioca, for which there already is a different, pre-existing article on Wikipedia.189.104.2.131 (talk) 07:37, 19 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  I am from India, and I have never heard or seen anyone using the word Cassava here. Tapioca is not a processed food here. It is the root, unprocessed. After tapioca is processed, what we get here is called as "Tapioca pearls". After all, it now looks to me like this is a cultural thing, and the same root vegetable is known as Cassava in some countries, and Tapioca over here (and presumably in some more Asian countries). Unfortunately, there's a lot of confusion because some people are mistaking Tapioca pearls with Sago pearls, and the article seems to reflect this incorrect notion. --ThePiston (talk) 18:11, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  The word isn't used in India, but it is used elsewhere. And since there already is a preexisting article under the name Cassava, that's where any entries pertaining to the root Manihot esculenta should take place. The ideal situation would be to rename this article to Tapioca starch (with redirects from terms such as cassava starch, tapioca pearls, tapioca granules, etc), as to avoid any further confusion between the starch and the root as it is known in India and possibly elsewhere (even in the brazilian page there is confusion over the term, which is both used for a starch and for s dish, known elsewhere in the country as beiju), and to change the disambiguation page for the term Tapioca, with an adjusted link that leads here, to the starch article, and with the addition of another that leads to the cassava article. Once that is done, all the root exclusive content (dishes made from the root and not the starch, the pictures of different varieties of the cassava root, etc) need to be removed. 200.217.225.129 (talk) 02:17, 16 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge Tapioca with [[Cassava]]

message: "Tapioka is called Chowwary in Malayalam." Being a native Malayalam speaker, I have never heard that Chowwary is the same as Tapioca. As far as I know, Chowwary is a form of Barley. I  could be mistaken on this one. Therefore, not editing the article directly
Chowwary/ chovvary /savalleri (ചൊവ്വരി / സാവല്ലരി / സാവല്ലേരി) are processed starch from several sources, one among them being tapioca tubers. It is not used as a synonym for Tapioca. At least in South India, Tapioca is the name of the plant or its raw or cooked tubers (കപ്പ / മരച്ചീനി/കൊള്ളി/ പൂളക്കിഴങ്ങ്). The plant is the same as Cassava. The two articles indeed need to be merged together. ViswaPrabha വിശ്വപ്രഭ (talk) 03:47, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Chowwary is Malayalam for Tapioca?

message: The article says "It is processed into either fine dried flakes or, more commonly, small hard white spheres or "pearls" that are soaked before use." Most commonly where? According to some random person's experience? Let's get a world-wide perspective or some specifics about what this "more commonly" means.
:::US centric language gives the article a world wide perspective.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.32.45.69 (talk) 01:52, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: US-Centric Language?

message: People can be allergic to tapioca. Since its mentioned that tapioca can be an alternative for gluten-free foods and people can be allergic to tapioca itself, would it be appropriate to make an allergy section for tapioca? 
69.243.93.144 (talk) 03:35, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Allergy 

message: I removed the following text from the article, because it appears to be vandalism.  --Una Smith (talk) 19:16, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vandalism? 

message: I think we need a better explanation of what exactly tapioca pearls are. ike9898 (talk) 10:14, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pearls 

message: I think a table with tapioca nutrients would be useful. Can someone please add it?
I once read that tapioca is not a recommended baby food, despite its widespread use in ready-made, processed baby products, because it has no nutrients (vitamins and minerals), only glucids and virtually no proteins.--Ithunn (talk) 09:16, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nutrients 

message: I highly doubt that an entire country (UK) would make slime and call it tapioca. It also said that that a citation was needed. Arrowroot+milk=inedible and disgusting slime. Tapioca usually refers to a milk-pudding made with tapioca pearls. -- Azemocram (talk) 04:23, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I've never heard of that either, and the claim has been disputed since 2009.  I've removed it. Iapetus (talk) 10:48, 20 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Milk pudding made with arrowroot? 

message: I have removed them as they are not sourced. --Abhijeet Safai (talk) 14:54, 23 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  claims about Ayurvedic use  

message: Several parts of the India subsection refer to how sago is used and made. While pearl sago is very similar to pearl tapioca, they are processed from two different plants that are native to opposite sides of the globe. http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/talking_plants/talking_plants_archive/talking_plants_events_calendar/event_view?SQ_CALENDAR_VIEW=event&SQ_CALENDAR_EVENT_ID=72323
Cinderlei (talk) 16:57, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sago 

message: The article says it come from the 'starch' of the plant.  Plants have leaves, stems, and roots.  There is no part called the 'starch' of a plant.  There is a picture there of cassava roots. Why is that picture there?  Are you saying tapioca is from the roots? I like to the casava roots and eat them even better than potatoes. They are often a side dish with food in central America and the Caribbean.  Are you saying that we are eating tapioca ?  Then what of the little beads?  And why then is sago used in preparation ... completely confused by this article!  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.54.185.173 (talk) 02:11, 21 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  But What Is It ??? 

message: Tapioca is different from Sabudhana. This article claims that tapioca pearls are called as Sabudhana in some places of India, and in Bangladesh. However, this is completely wrong. Sabudhana is Sago pearls, and it is completely different from Tapioca. Tapioca is the root of a plant, which is known as Kappa Kezhangu in Tamil, and as Kappa in Malayalam. I'm unsure as to what it's known as in Marathi and other Indian languages, but Sabudhana is Sago. This article must be edited to reflect this fact. I might do it shortly.ThePiston (talk) 18:04, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  The "fact" about India, Bangladesh, and a number of Asian countries is dubious 

message: In the south america section, "In Peru, tapioca is known as yuca and is eaten mostly boiled as a side dish in the Amazon and fried with Papa a la Huancaína sauce as a snack when drinking alcohol." This refers to the use of the root as a vegetable, and this page should only be about the use of tapioca starch. Removing Danfeder (talk) 22:53, 9 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Starch vs root 

message: Um... I am pretty sure you are mistaking tapioca (a dish) with the starch (which is called something else) on this name... Manioc starch is NOT called tapioca in brazil, tapioca is exclusively the name of the dish made from manioc starch, which is most often in powdered form and called polvilho. 
"In Brazil, the plant (cassava) is named "mandioca", while its starch is called "tapioca". " It is not — Preceding unsigned comment added by 177.96.175.219 (talk) 19:21, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: The name is wrong

message: history of Manihot
the page on 'cassava' mentions that the plant was widespread throughout precolumbian mesoamerica, but on this page it says it was brought to the west indies after european contact. it looks like th
is page is wrong about that.
Potholehotline (talk) 16:21, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: (Comment)

message: There should be a citation or more information on the use of tapioca in laundry. Quanhuynh96 (talk) 03:39, 6 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Laundry usage

message: A question was raised within the article about how to minimize the toxicity of linamarin. This process is too detailed for the article, in my opinion, so I'll post it here for discussion. An excerpt from the FAO reference listed as #2: ...linamarin often coexists with its methyl homologue called methyl-linamarin or lotaustralin. Linamarin is a cyanogenic glycoside which is converted to toxic hydrocyanic acid or prussic acid when it comes into contact with linamarase, an enzyme that is released when the cells of cassava roots are ruptured. Otherwise linamarin is a rather stable compound which is not changed by boiling the cassava. If it is absorbed from the gut to the blood as the intact glycoside it is probably excreted unchanged in the urine without causing any harm to the organism (Philbrick, 1977). However, ingested linamarin can liberate cyanide in the gut during digestion.
Traditional processing and cooking methods for cassava can, if efficiently carried out, reduce the cyanide content to non-toxic levels. An efficient processing method will release the enzyme linamarase by disintegrating the microstructure the cassava root. On bringing this enzyme into contact with linamarin the glucoside is converted into hydrogen cyanide. The liberated cyanide will dissolve in the water when fermentation is effected by prolonged soaking, and will evaporate when the fermented cassava is dried. Sun drying fresh cassava pieces for short periods is an inefficient detoxification process... Simple boiling of fresh root pieces is not always reliable since the cyanide may be only partially liberated, and only part of the linamarin may be extracted in the cooking water.
--Zefr (talk) 15:07, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Processing to reduce toxicity of linamarin 

message: When it is grown and harvested months 188.70.15.205 (talk) 13:20, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tapioca 

message: The article says:
(1) The plant provided much needed carbohydrates and other nutrients.
(2) Dried tapioca pearls are 11% water and 89% carbohydrates, with no protein or fat. In a 100 gram reference amount, dried tapioca supplies 358 calories and no or only trace amounts of dietary minerals and vitamins.
contradicting itself.
also reference for (1) is not longer available. 189.243.22.150 (talk) 02:15, 22 October 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Good catch on this inconsistency. I removed the dead reference for the WWII use, as a search for tapioca on that site yielded nothing. The USDA source used in the nutrition section is reliable, here, using the pick list for a 100 g amount. Only carbohydrates are notable in the 100 g amount, so the nutrition section is described accurately. The USDA has analyzed many foods containing tapioca, search results here, but in most cases, tapioca is only an ingredient, as it is commonly used in food manufacturing, especially for baby foods. Only the entry for dried tapioca "pearls" seems relevant for this article, and this is the same as the source in the nutrition section. Zefr (talk) 04:54, 22 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Inconsistency 

message: The introduction says "use has spread throughout South America."  No mention of Asia.  Yet the second half of the page is all about Asia and India.  Edit, please. 2600:1700:1C64:8240:BCD6:2A3:28DF:87E2 (talk) 13:47, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Conflicting information