Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tapioca

TAPIOCA is a farinaceous food substance prepared from cassava starch, the product of the large tuberous roots of the cassava or manioc plant, Manihot utilissima (Jatropha manihot), native of Brazil (see Cassava, vol. v. p. 182, and comp. Arrowroot, vol. ii. p. 631, fig. 6). Cassava starch, being separated from the fibrous and nitrogenous constituents of the roots, is in a moist condition spread upon iron plates, and with constant stirring exposed to such heat as causes a partial rupture of the starch granules, which agglomerate into irregular pellets, becoming hard and translucent when cooled. In this partly torrefied condition the starch forms the tapioca of commerce, a light, pleasant, and digestible food, much used in puddings and as a thickener for soups. The French prepare an artificial tapioca from potato starch, mixed with various vegetable substances, for use in soups, &c., which is found in the market under such names as tapioca Crecy, tapioca Julienne, &c., according to the dried vegetables with which the preparations are made.