Editing Tapioca (section)

==Production==

{{see also|Cassava#Production}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=July 2021}}

The cassava plant is easily propagated by stem-cutting, grows well in low-nutrient soils, and can be harvested every two months, although it takes ten months to grow to full maturity.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The cassava plant has either red or green branches with blue spindles on them. The root of the green-branched variant requires treatment to remove [[linamarin]], a cyanogenic glycoside occurring naturally in the plant, which otherwise may be converted into [[cyanide]].<ref name="fao.org">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "Roots, tubers, plantains, and bananas in human nutrition," Rome, 1990, Ch. 7 "Toxic substances and antinutritional factors." Document available online at http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0207e/T0207E00.htm#Contents {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121180620/http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0207e/T0207E00.htm#Contents |date=November 21, 2016 }}. Ch. 7 appears at http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0207e/T0207E08.htm#Cassava%20toxicity {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124092508/http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0207e/t0207e08.htm#Cassava%20toxicity |date=November 24, 2016 }}. (Accessed 25 June 2011.)</ref> [[Konzo]] (also called mantakassa) is a paralytic disease associated with several weeks of almost exclusive consumption of insufficiently processed bitter cassava.

In Brazil's north and northeast, traditional community-based tapioca production is a byproduct of [[Cassava#Farinha de mandioca|manioc flour]] production from cassava roots. In this process, the manioc (after treatment to remove toxicity) is ground to a pulp with a small hand- or diesel-powered mill. This [[masa]] is then squeezed to dry it out. The wet masa is placed in a long woven tube called a {{lang|pt|tipiti}}. The top of the tube is secured while a large branch or lever is inserted into a loop at the bottom and used to stretch the entire implement vertically, squeezing a starch-rich liquid out through the weave and ends. This liquid is collected, and the microscopic starch grains in it are allowed to settle into the bottom of the container. The supernatant liquid is then poured off, leaving behind a wet starch sediment that needs to be dried and results in the fine-grained tapioca starch powder similar in appearance to [[corn starch]].
[[File:Biji delima pacar china.JPG|thumb|Colored, translucent tapioca sticks]]
Commercially, the starch is processed into several forms: hot soluble powder, meal, pre-cooked fine or coarse flakes, rectangular sticks, and spherical "pearls."<ref>{{cite web |author=Carolina Moura |url=http://snapguide.com/guides/make-your-own-tapioca-pearls-from-scratch/ |title=How to make tapioca pearls |publisher=Snapguide.com |access-date=2014-02-10 |archive-date=January 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128001611/http://snapguide.com/guides/make-your-own-tapioca-pearls-from-scratch/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Pearls are the most widely available shape; sizes range from about 1&nbsp;mm to 8&nbsp;mm in diameter, with 2–3&nbsp;mm being the most common.

Flakes, sticks, and pearls must be soaked well before cooking to rehydrate, absorbing water up to twice their volume. After rehydration, tapioca products become leathery and swollen. Processed tapioca is usually white, but sticks and pearls may be colored. Traditionally, the most common color applied to tapioca has been brown, but recently{{when|date=September 2023}} pastel colors have been available. Tapioca pearls are generally opaque when raw but become [[translucent]] when cooked in boiling water.

Brazil, Thailand, and Nigeria are the world's largest cassava producers. Currently, Thailand accounts for about 60 percent of worldwide exports.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/world/asia/19thai.html | work=The New York Times | title=Wasps to Fight Thai Cassava Plague | first=Seth | last=Mydans | date=2010-07-18 | access-date=February 18, 2017 | archive-date=June 22, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622125633/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/world/asia/19thai.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Storage ===
When roots are sold to processing factories, they must be processed within 24 hours of harvest to ensure raw material freshness and prevent microflora growth. This would be observed as brown-black discolorations in a freshly broken root.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Breuninger |first1=William F. |title=Tapioca/Cassava Starch |date=2009 |work=Starch |pages=541–568 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-746275-2.00012-4 |isbn=978-0-12-746275-2 |last2=Piyachomkwan |first2=Kuakoon |last3=Sriroth |first3=Klanarong}}</ref>

All process water streams contain some amount of [[sulfur dioxide]] to control the growth of microbes. Dried starch provides a shelf-stable product. For example, uncooked, dried tapioca pearls have at least a 2-year shelf life stability, whereas freshly cooked pearls may last ten days in the refrigerator. This difference is accounted to the water activity difference between the dried and wet product, the latter introducing a much more favorable condition for microbes to grow.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fu |first1=Yi-Chung |last2=Dai |first2=Li |last3=Yang |first3=Binghuei B. |date=16 February 2005 |title=Microwave finish drying of (tapioca) starch pearls |journal=International Journal of Food Science and Technology |language=en |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=119–132 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2621.2004.00898.x |issn=0950-5423}}</ref>