Description
About
Cassava:
Brief:
Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates for meals in
the world. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of Cassava.
The cassava root is long and tapered, with a firm homogeneous flesh
encased in a detachable rind, about 1mm thick, rough and brown on
the outside. Commercial varieties can be 5 to *0 cm in diameter at
the top, and around *5 cm to *0 cm long. A woody cordon runs along
the root's axis. The flesh can be chalk-white or yellowish. Cassava
roots are very rich in starch, and contain significant amounts of
calcium (*0 mg/**0g), phosphorus (*0 mg/**0g) and vitamin C (*5
mg/**0g). However, they are poor in protein and other nutrients. In
contrast, cassava leaves are a good source of protein, and are rich
in the amino acid lysine, though deficient in methionine and
possibly tryptophan.
Cassava (Manihot esculenta), also called yuca or manioc, a woody
shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America,
is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and
subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major
source of carbohydrates. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of
cassava
.
Note: mind 2 different plants that just change 1 letter: Yucca and
Yuca.
Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates for meals in
the world.[1][2] It is classified as sweet or bitter, depending on
the level of toxic cyanogenic glucosides. (However, bitter taste is
not always a reliable measure.[3]) Improper preparation of cassava
can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide
intoxication and goiters, and has been linked to ataxia or partial
paralysis.[4] Nevertheless, farmers often prefer the bitter
varieties because they deter pests, animals, and thieves.[5] In
some locations the more toxic varieties serve as a fall-back
resource (a "food security crop") in times of famine.[6]
Cassava is sometimes spelled cassaba or cassada.[7]
In English-language publications, the plant may be
occasionally called by local names, such as mandioca, aipim, or
macaxeira (Brazil), yuca (Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic,
Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama,Venezuela, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia),
mandi´o (Paraguay), akpu, ege , ugburu, ntororo or ukuduk
(Nigeria),
bankye (Ghana),bananku (Mali and other parts of West
Africa),
mogo or mihogo (Swahili-speaking Africa), pondu in
(Lingala-speaking Africa), maravaLLi kilangu : kappa (Malayalam),
maniokka (Sri Lanka), singkong (Indonesia), ubikayu (Malaysia),
kamoteng kahoy or balanghoy (Philippines),
mushu (China), man sampalang (Thailand), karapendalam (Telegu), c?
s?n or khoai mì (Vietnam), man thon (???????) (Laos), and manioke,
tapioka or manioka (Polynesia). History:
Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, shown to
be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in
west-central Brazil, where it was likely first domesticated no more
than *0,**0 years BP.[*0] By 6,**0 BC, manioc pollen appears in the
Gulf of Mexico lowlands, at the San Andrés archaeological
site.[*1]The oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes
from a 1,**0 year old Maya site, Joya de Cerén, in El Salvador.[*2]
although the species Manihot esculenta likely originated further
south in Brazil
and Paraguay.
With its high food potential, it had become a staple food of the
native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica,
and the Caribbean by the time of the Spanish conquest, and its
cultivation was continued by the colonial Portuguese and Spanish.
Forms of the modern domesticated species can be found growing in
the wild in the south of Brazil. While there are several wild
Manihot species, all varieties of M. esculenta are cultigens.
Cassava was a staple food for pre-Columbian peoples in the
Americas, and is often portrayed in indigenous art. The Moche
people often depicted yuca in their ceramics.[*3]
Since being introduced by Portuguese traders from Brazil in the
*6th century, maize and cassava have replaced traditional African
crops as the continent’s most important staple food crops.[*4]
Cassava is sometimes described as the ‘bread of the tropics
