CASSAVA --Manihot esculenta--

AKA Manioc and Yuca, in the Euphorbia family. Another amazing staple food like arrowroot, Cassava makes a large, starchy root tuber that is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, just behind rice and maize. The starch can be extracted and is then called tapioca, the ingredient that makes the pearls in boba tea! Take great care if intending to eat - the roots must be very well processed to remove the natural but still toxic cyanide that exists in all cassava - Brazilian and African natives developed many techniques of soaking, cooking, fermentation, etc. to make this food safe and healthy to eat. Tolerates poor soils and drought, likes full sun to part shade, but needs protection from frosts to produce full roots, but is root hardy in the ground in 8B (will die back to roots and regrow in spring).