Cassava (yuca, maniok): what it is and how to cook it safely

Cassava is the long, starchy root of the plant Manihot esculenta, called yuca in Latin America, kappa in Kerala and maniok in Polish. It has a thick brown skin and hard white flesh that turns soft and slightly sweet when cooked. Raw cassava is poisonous, so you must always peel it and cook it thoroughly before eating.

What cassava is

Cassava comes from South America and is now one of the main starchy crops in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. People eat the root, and in some countries the cooked leaves too. Cassava is also made into many products: cassava flour, gari, tapioca (pearls and starch) and fufu.

Cooked cassava has a mild taste, a little like potato, but it is denser and more fibrous, with a clear sweetish note.

Cassava in Polish

Do not confuse edible yuca with the yucca houseplant (juka in Polish). They are different plants.

Safety: why you must never eat cassava raw

Cassava contains compounds that can release hydrogen cyanide in the raw root. Bitter varieties contain a lot of them; sweet varieties, usually sold as a vegetable, contain less. You cannot tell the difference by looking at the root, so handle all cassava the same way:

• Never eat cassava raw, and do not put raw cassava into smoothies or salads.
• Peel it completely: remove the brown skin and the pink or white layer under it.
• Remove the hard, woody core from the centre of the root.
• Boil it uncovered in plenty of water until it is completely soft. Throw the cooking water away.
• Fry or bake cassava only after boiling it.

Ready-made products such as gari, cassava flour or tapioca have already been processed by the maker. Prepare them as the pack says.

How to peel and boil cassava step by step

1. Cut off the ends of the root and cut it into pieces about 5 to 8 cm long.
2. Stand each piece on end and cut away the thick skin together with the pale layer underneath. You can also score the skin lengthways and lever it off with a knife; it often comes away in one piece.
3. Cut each piece in half lengthways and cut out the hard core.
4. Rinse the pieces in cold water.
5. Put them in a pan, cover with plenty of cold water and add salt.
6. Boil uncovered until the cassava is soft all the way through and a knife goes in with no resistance. This usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes, sometimes longer. Cooked cassava turns slightly translucent at the edges.
7. Drain and throw away the water.

How to cook cassava

Yuca frita. Dry the boiled pieces, cut them into sticks and fry until golden, like chips. In Latin America they come with a garlic or hot sauce.

Mashed cassava. Mash boiled cassava with butter or olive oil and garlic, as you would potatoes.

Stews and soups. In the Caribbean and Latin America cassava is cooked in soups and stews with meat, for example Colombian sancocho.

West African cooking. Cassava is made into gari: grated, pressed, fermented and toasted granules. Gari stirred into hot water to a thick dough is eba, eaten with soups such as egusi or okra soup. In Nigeria and Ghana gari is also eaten soaked in cold water with sugar and peanuts.

Kerala. Kappa (cassava) is boiled, mashed with coconut and spices and served with fish curry.

How to store cassava

Fresh cassava spoils quickly, usually within a few days, and darkens inside. Buy it shortly before you cook it and keep it somewhere cool. To keep it longer, peel it, remove the core, cut it into pieces and freeze them. Boil frozen pieces without thawing, until fully soft, just as long as fresh ones. Throw away flesh with black streaks or an unpleasant smell.

Where to buy cassava in Poland

Look for fresh cassava (maniok) in the fresh vegetables section of the Little India shop. Little India also sells cassava products that are ready to prepare, such as white gari from AliBaba, yellow gari from AliBaba and Mac Philps cassava flour. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders across Poland.

Tapioca, the starch made from cassava, is covered in our guide to sago and tapioca. For fufu and egusi soup, read fufu and egusi.