Tapioca is divided into bitter tapioca and sweet tapioca, sweet tapioca toxin content is very low, bitter tapioca contains linseed bitter glycosides, in the role of gastric acid will produce a neurotoxin - hydrocyanic acid. Sweet cassava should be peeled off, washed and cooked before eating. Bitter cassava must be de-toxicized and then cooked. Eating tapioca raw or eating undercooked tapioca puts you at risk of poisoning. The folk saying that eating cassava will intoxicate people is actually a mild poisoning.

The roots, stems and leaves of cassava contain poisonous substances, and if you eat raw or undercooked cassava or drink its soup, you can be poisoned, and its toxins can lead to nerve-paralyzing diseases, and even cause permanent paralysis.

Extended information

Tapioca is the tuberous root of the plant cassava in the Euphorbiaceae family, which is conical, cylindrical or fusiform, fleshy and rich in starch. Cassava flour is of excellent quality, can be used for food, or industrial production of alcohol, fructose, glucose and so on. All parts of cassava contain cyanogenic glycosides, toxic, the fleshy part of fresh cassava must be blistered, dried and other de-toxicizing processing treatment before eating.

Because fresh cassava is easy to rot and deteriorate, it is generally processed as soon as possible after harvesting into starch, dry slices, dried potato grains and so on. There are two main types of cassava: bitter cassava (used exclusively for the production of cassava flour) and sweet cassava (eaten similar to potato). It is processed for consumption and is one of the main miscellaneous grains for local residents.

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