Cassava

Has anyone considered Cassava? It is easy to grow them and the tuber taste much better than the bamboo shoot, the bamboo shoot we use only for a side dish like stir fry with dried shrimp, where as the cassava is the poorv man staple food in the old country, the cassava plant will not grow taller than four to six feet, one just need the fresh cassava stem with a few nodes and just stick in the ground or soil and about three to six months one will get a bunch of tubers, just from one plant, one can feed a family of six for one day and the tubers can be kept and stored like potatoes.

Offered by Tian.

I have not heard of a Cassava. How would this plant compare with other options we have like beets? Is it fast growing? Can it also be used for construction? Can you eat the whole plant? What family of plant is this or is there a more common name we would identify?

Offered by Mike.

If you know how to grow potatoes, then Cassava is much easier to grow, just stick a small piece of the stem back into the soil and a new cassava plant will grow again, that is how simple it is.

Offered by Tian.

Cassava is the most important tropical root crop. It’s starchy roots are a major source of dietary energy for more than 500 million people. It is known to be the highest producer of carbohydrates among staple crops. According to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cassava ranks fourth of food crops in the developing countries after rice, maize and wheat. The leaves are relatively rich on protein and can be consumed. Cassava can be stored in the ground for several seasons, thereby serve as a reserve food when other crops fail. Cassava is also increasingly used for animal feed and in different industrial processes and products Its starchy roots produce more calories per unit of land than any other crop in the world, except perhaps sugar cane. The leaves of the plants provide vitamins and proteins when eaten as a a vegetable - a common practice in Africa. The leaves are often fed to livestock too. Cassava is called "Manioc" in Francophone areas and Tapioca in Latin America. Portuguese name it "Mandioca" and Spanish "Yucca".

Offered by Mike.