Show isec 8 food value of tapioca discovered in odd way tapioca Tap loca which Is of native brazilian origin Is the name applied to a vegetable food obtained from the tha starch in the roots ot of the plant known as bitter cassava which Is indigenous to trop tropical leal america according to a latin american tradition the food value of the cassava root was accidentally discovered by a spanish explorer lost in the tha jungles of brazil he had heard from the indians that the sap of the cassava plant was highly poisonous and preferring a quick death by poison to a t slow one by starvation he ate a bowl of soup prepared by ballina cassava roots la in water instead of dying he be lived to tell the world how this pleasant and digestible food saved caved him from starvation As a matter matte of fact the milky juice of 0 the bitter cassava Is highly poisonous and therefore cannot be eaten in its it natural condition without danger but the application of heat beat as the explorer discovered destroys the polon poisonous property |