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https://theconversation.com/cassava-the-perilous-past-and-promising-future-of-a-toxic-but-nourishing-crop-223503>
"The three staple crops dominating modern diets – corn, rice and wheat – are
familiar to Americans. However, fourth place is held by a dark horse: cassava.
While nearly unknown in temperate climates, cassava is a key source of
nutrition throughout the tropics. It was domesticated 10,000 years ago, on the
southern margin of the Amazon basin in Brazil, and spread from there throughout
the region. With a scraggly stem a few meters tall, a handful of slim branches
and modest, hand-shaped leaves, it doesn’t look like anything special.
Cassava’s humble appearance, however, belies an impressive combination of
productivity, toughness and diversity.
Over the course of millennia, Indigenous peoples bred it from a weedy wild
plant into a crop that stores prodigious quantities of starch in potatolike
tubers, thrives in Amazonia’s poor soils and is nearly invulnerable to pests.
Cassava’s many assets would seem to make it the ideal crop. But there’s a
problem: Cassava is highly poisonous.
How can cassava be so toxic, yet still dominate diets in Amazonia? It’s all
down to Indigenous ingenuity. For the past 10 years, my collaborator, César
Peña, and I have been studying cassava gardens on the Amazon River and its
myriad tributaries in Peru. We have discovered scores of cassava varieties,
growers using sophisticated breeding strategies to manage its toxicity, and
elaborate methods for processing its dangerous yet nutritious products."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
