Grain
Tapioca
Tapioca is a starch extracted from cassava root, sold as pearls, flakes, flour, and starch powder. Neutral and glossy when cooked, it thickens pies and sauces and forms the chewy pearls of bubble tea and puddings. Not a cereal grain, it is grouped with grain-cupboard starches for culinary use. Must be fully cooked; quality varies from fine starch to large black tea pearls.
Also known as: Tapioca / Polvilho, Sabudana, Fen yuan, Sakhu
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History
Amazonian peoples processed cassava into starches and flatbreads, the origin of tapioca products.
Colonial trade spread cassava and tapioca starch across Africa and Asia.
Tapioca pudding pearls and industrial starch became global pantry commodities.
Bubble tea popularised large tapioca pearls as a chewy beverage ingredient worldwide.