What on Earth is- Tapioca?

Do you have a foodie friend you can’t keep up with?

Impress a food-mad mate with top class tapioca knowledge from our 1st edition of ‘What on Earth is…?’

In the new age of the bubble tea (boba tea), most people are now recognising tapioca as the squishy bubbles in the tea. But do you actually know what is it? Most people don’t, read on to amaze your foodie pals!

Let’s start with narrowing it down…

What is tapioca?

A form of precipitation? A city in Japan? Cassava plant starch?

Hint : one of these is correct (it’s the last one)

Here is the interesting part, tapioca is not technically a fruit or a vegetable! (I KNOW!! Shock horror!!). It is in fact a starch made from the roots of a cassava plant.

The cassava plant is mainly cultivated and eaten in tropical regions, it is a great plant to grow as it can handle low-nutrient soils and can be harvested quickly. Not only this but it can be used in a multitude of ways, you can have; cassava mash, cassava soup, cassava chips and of course TAPIOCA!

Tapioca itself is processed into a number of different products; from the plain flour (pictured below) to the flakes and pearls.

Characteristics

A neutral flavour and strong sticking power, makes it highly useful as a thickening agent.
Unlike corn starch, tapioca can withstand a freeze thaw cycle without losing its gel structure or breaking down.
Tapioca is naturally opaque, but turns translucent after it is cooked. Tapioca balls are often dyed different colours for bubble tea.
It also gets the celiac thumbs up as it is completely free from that nasty gluten.