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Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau: workers preparing cakes from manioc root, within a decorative border. Engraving, c. 1777. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
"The natives of Kachao employ the principal part of their time in the cultivation of a plant called manioc, which is used instead of bread, not only here, but in several other parts of Africa. The nature of this plant, with the manner of its being brought to perfection, is thus described by a late author: 'The manioc, says he, is a plant which is propagated by slips. It is set in furrows that are five or six inches deep, which are filled with the fame earth that has been taken out. These furrows are at the distance of two feet, or two feet and an half, from each other, according to the nature of the ground. The shrub rises a little above six feet, and its trunk is about the thickness of the arm. In proportion as it grows, the lower leaves fall off, and only a few remain towards the top; its wood is tender and brittle. It is a delicate plant, whose cultivation is troublesome, and the vicinity of all sorts of grass is prejudicial to it. It requires a dry and light soil; its fruit is at its root; and if this root is shaken by the motion the wind gives to the body of the plant, the fruit is formed but imperfectly. It takes 18 months before it grows to maturity. It is not rendered fit for use till after it has undergone a tedious preparation. Its first skin must be scraped; it must be then washed, rasped and pressed, to extract the aqueous parts that are slow poison, against which there is no remedy known. They then roast it, as that causes every noxious particle it might still contain totally to evaporate. When there appears no more steam, it is taken off the iron plate on which it was roasted, and suffered to cool ; for it is no less dangerous to eat it hot than raw. The root of the manioc grated and reduced into little grains by roasting, is called flour of manioc. The paste of manioc is called cassava, which is converted into a cake by roasting, without moving it. It would be dangerous to eat as much cassava as flour of manioc, because the former is less roasted. Both of them keep a long time, and are very nourishing, but a little difficult of digestion. Though this food seems at first insipid, there are many white people who prefer it to the best wheat.' The manioc plant is also cultivated and brought to no less perfection by the inhabitants of the island of Bissao."--Middleton, loc. cit.
Manihot root contains varying amounts of cyanide which is removed by squeezing the ground tuber in water and by evaporation during drying
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