Tapioca and Cyanide

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In this video:

Little pearls swimming in a creamy custard flavored with vanilla or lemon, many of us have fond (and others not so fond) childhood memories of tapioca pudding. Although this staple dessert of the 1970s went out of vogue for a while, today it’s making a comeback. You may not know, however, that the tapioca we use is a refined product whose parent plant is filled with dangerous toxins that, absent proper preparation, can result in cyanide poisoning and possible death.

Sources:

[alreadyded]

I love how they have started leaving the bloopers in.

[ravnphoenx]

I like videos like these, where you admit you're not sure what something is or you are laughing so hard it has to cut to a technical difficulties screen! Just feels very authentic and relatable to me ❤❤

[ledcads]

As a brazilian, I didn't know they sold tapioca pudding in usa or europe. I actually didn't even know this is how you guys call it. We call it "cuscuz doce". It's extremely traditional and common in Brazil, sold cheaply on the streets or bakeries and as far as know it's not produced here by any big brand to be sold "ready to eat". It's also a staple in traditional festivities.

[glenngriffon]

Always nice to start the video off with Simon being dumbfounded.

[ohrats]

Me: loves bubble tea
Also me: has off-and-on thyroid problems
Oh no.

[SanBrunoBeacon]

I loved Tapioca pudding when I was a kid. I still love it. It's good stuff🌞

[vevfd]

By some strange coincidence, Tapioca and Cyanide is the name of my Heavy metal klezmer opera fusion Rush cover band... ;)

[arkhen]

Here in Brazil's northern region there is a dish called maniçoba that is made of the cassava's leaves. The leaves are so toxic that they can take a whole week to cook. People say that the dish really good, I never tried it myself, but if people are willing to eat something so potentially dangerous, I have to take their word for it.

[thebigbean]

Ah tapioca and cyanide the only way I'll start off my Monday morning.

[acetate]

I've always wondered why there was tapioca in my poison. Get that creamy toxic mess out of my sweet sweet cyanide.

[rickkwitkoski]

Cassava. I ate a fair bit in West Africa many years ago. There is always a bit of the toxin left over but if there is adequate protein in the diet, this helps to eliminate any that is ingested. THAT is what I learned via the BBC West Africa shortwave service.
However, most of the people for which cassava is a large part of their diet do NOT have adequate protein. Hmmmm...
Thanks for this and all episodes, Simon. Always something new to learn.

[kamiamaya]

I *just* made bubble tea for the first time (no places sells it around here and I wanted to see what the fuss was about)...
*stares at glass of tea*

[jarehelt]

lots of these cyonogenic compounds are chemically locked (like B12) and are even helpful nutrients for the body in small amounts

[smr]

This is so weird. After eating at an Asian restaurant my brother took me to try bubble tea for the 1st time yesterday. And this morning what do I get, a notification about tapioca and cyanide

[Liutgard]

Tapioca pudding, made at home with real eggs, served WARM with a dusting of nutmeg... oh YUM!!!

[johnopalko]

Great. Now I have a craving for tapioca pudding. Off to the store!

[Tishers]

Before the fad of bubble tea you could find dried tapioca pellets as a grocery shelf item. It was useful if you wanted to make your own tapioca pudding. Nowadays it is probably 99% of the tapioca pudding that is consumed is sold out of those little pre-made plastic containers. Even back then (in the 1970's) I was taught by my mom to let the tapioca soak for a few hours, then to boil it and throw out the water to decrease any residual cyanide. I doubt that there was much cyanide remaining in the tapioca that you could buy in the store.


There are other foods that have somewhat similar cooking restrictions to make them less toxic; Like poke-weed (phytolaccatoxin, phytolaccigenin), alpine sweetvetch (canavanine) or sprouting green potatoes (solanine).

[GrainneDhu]

My mother, who was born and raised in Lancashire in the 1930s to 1940s, told us that she and her classmates always looked forward to tapioca pudding day because they nicknamed it 'frog spawn' one day and a teacher made the mistake of showing that hearing that turned her stomach. I still love frog spawn!

[ThunderChunky]

*most fruit seeds.
And lots of them contain ricin.

[nickgehr]

More like a legal way to avoid monday morning