Easy Podcast - Tapioca, The South American starch that changed the world's diet - Easy Español

Have you ever wondered what are those little balls at the bottom of your bubble tea? Those are tapioca pearls. Tapioca is the starch extracted of the yuca (cassava) root. Yuca and tapioca had been staples in the diets of the Amazon indigenous peoples for hundreds of years. The Portuguese colonizers took this nutritious plant to their territories in Africa and Asia. Now, both the cassava plant and its starch are widely-used all over the world and highly-valued for its many properties. Click play to learn more about tapioca, its origins and how it became a must-have ingredient in kitchens all over the world.