I remain cautious about cooking cassava, because I am never certain that I can recognise the difference between the sweet & bitter kind. The bitter one contains prussic acid, & is thus poisonous. Unless, as the Amerindians discovered, it is thoroughly boiled for about an hour. I wonder who was the first volunteer for this experiment?
I might be less fearful of the vegetable in my inexpert hands, now I know of an antidote
BITTER CASSAVA: The aqueous part is expressed … By the inattention of the Slaves, this juice, when expressed, is frequently drank by the sheep, hogs & poultry, on the Plantations, which ever proves fatal to them: yet the animals thus poisoned, are always eaten by the inhabitants
… The best antidotes that have hitherto been discovered against the poisonous effects of the cassava in its crude state are red pepper & rum, taken immediately
