Beware of this Vegetable!

Some of you may have seen tapiok or cassava in an international grocery store.

We have enjoyed eating grated tapiok that other people have mixed with grated coconut and baked as a "cake" over hot stones. But some internet research taught me that cassava can be dangerous. The cyanide in its leaves, skin and tuber can cause paralysis.

As you can see in the top picture, cassava is a long, narrow tuber. The bushy leaves with red stems grow above the ground to a height of six feet. The tuber must be dug up.

In the next picture, you see how to skin the tuber. The skin comes off easily in one piece. After it is cooked, it has the consistency of a potato and a similar taste. Traditionally, it is eaten plain. We thought it tasted good with tomato sauce and other vegetables.

In PNG folks say about tapiok, "Em i swit ya!" (It tastes good.) Tapiok is good when prepared properly. For uninitiated people, it may be one vegetable just to look at and not eat without proper instruction.