My wife made the mistake of asking me the other night if I knew what exactly Tapioca is. I had no idea. I know I like it. I consider it a 7 out of 10 on the “delicious” scale.
Yes, curiosity killed the cat, but it also forced me to find the true story behind the tapioca pudding. What I discovered may be interesting to you, but it is not what Hollywood movies are made of. Or at least not good Hollywood movies.
Tapioca is a high-starch, unflavored ingredient produced from the yucca root that is native to South America. The white pellets are the result of root processing. They are not seeds. The yucca plant is used in a variety of different cuisines around the world.
Now that we have figured out what tapioca is, we can fully understand tapioca pudding. It is simple. Tapioca pudding is quite often and commonly a mix of tapioca, of course, in addition to milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
There are a couple of interesting little details.
The yucca plant produces cyanide. If you don’t process the plant, it could kill you. If I only had a nickel for every time I heard “dude, this is killer tapioca.”
Also, some researchers are convinced that the cassava plant can be used to kill cancer cells.
July 15 is National Tapioca Pudding Day. Whatever you do, don’t tell my wife. I didn’t get him anything. Not even a card. National Tapioca Pudding Day was the theme of a television episode of “Garfield & Friends.”
And finally a little story that could make you laugh. In 1972, off Wales, a Swiss freighter named Cassarate was nearly sunk by tapioca. Apparently the ship contained 1,500 tons of tapioca when it caught fire. The heat from the fire combined with the water used to put it out essentially started cooking the tapioca. This process caused the tapioca to expand. The ship’s plates were almost on the verge of buckling. Eventually the fire was extinguished and the ship managed to limp to its destination.
Hundreds of starving Welsh were disappointed because they had been waiting in anticipation of the explosion with bowls and spoons in hand.
Yes, you may have sensationalized the story a bit with that last sentence. My apologies.
That was good, right? Bet you can’t wait for my haggis story.
