cassava

Cassava Nearly every food in every country has a main ingredient. In Paraguay, one of the key ingredients to making delicious dishes is cassava. Cassava is a “shrubby, tropical perennial plant” (What) that can grow up to a height of fifteen feet tall. It has a firm outside similar to a potato, and like its roots, is brown and rough (Cassava). The inside of a cassava ranges from yellow to white. While its leaves differ in size and shape, the root grows up to a length of two feet (What). Unlike traditional plants, cassava is able to grow in not only rich, but also poor soil. Because of this, “fertilization is rarely necessary” (What). Like other types of plants, cassava needs a temperature of eighty degrees Fahrenheit or higher to grow. An important reason why cassava is used as a main ingredient in Paraguayan dishes is because it can thrive in the driest of conditions with high humidity; therefore, this unique plant can be grown year-round. Also, cassava roots are full of starch, and have large portions of calcium, phosphorous, and vitamin c in them (Cassava). Around five hundred million people depend on cassava around the world each year (What). Although these facts are important, they wouldn’t exist had cassava not been created in 10,000 B.C. Even though cassava is a thriving plant of Paraguay today, it was most likely first domesticated in Brazil in 10,000 B.C. (Cassava); however, the “oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a one thousand four hundred year old Maya site, Joya de Ceren, in El Salvador” (Cassava). Because cassava can be used in a variety of ways, it became a main ingredient of tribes from South America, the West Indies, and Southern Mesoamerica by the era of the Spanish conquest (Cassava). Fortunately, the cultivation of the cassava was carried on by the “colonial Portuguese and Spanish” (Cassava). Cassava root would not be available in so many places around the world today had it not been for Michael J. Goni, who began the world production of cassava root (Cassava). The history of cassava, much like other plants, began with farming. Traditionally, cassava is “harvested by hand by raising the lower part of stem and pulling the roots out of the ground, then” taking them off the base of the cassava (Cassava). The top part of the stem is removed before farming (Cassava). The production of Cassava is maximized by slicing the stem into about fifteen centimeter slices and planting them before the wet season (Cassava). Normally, the cassava root is then left in the ground and is only “harvested when needed” (Cassava). The unique looks, history, and harvesting of this plant make it the foundation of Paraguayan and other South American food.

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