Tapioca Pudding – What the heck are those little balls?

My wife made the mistake of asking me the other night if I knew exactly what tapioca is. She 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 real story behind the tapioca pudding. What I discovered might be interesting to you, but it’s not what Hollywood movies are made of. Or at least not good Hollywood movies.

Tapioca is a flavorless, starchy ingredient produced from the cassava root that is native to South America. The white balls are the result of root processing. They are not seeds. The yucca plant is used in a variety of different cuisines throughout 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, as well as milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

There are a couple of other interesting little tidbits.

The yucca plant produces cyanide. If you don’t process the plant, it could kill you. If only I had a nickel for every time I heard “dude, this is killer tapioca.”

Also some researchers are convinced that the yucca 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 subject of a television episode of “Garfield & Friends.”

And finally a little story that might make you laugh. In 1972, off Wales, a Swiss cargo ship called the Cassarate was nearly sunk by tapioca. Apparently, the ship was carrying 1,500 tons of tapioca when it caught fire. The heat from the fire combined with the water used to extinguish it essentially began to cook the tapioca. This process caused the tapioca to expand. The ships’ armor was almost at the point of sagging. Eventually the fire was extinguished and the ship managed to limp to its destination.

Hundreds of starving Welshmen were disappointed as they had been waiting for 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? I bet you can’t wait for my haggis story.

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