Can cassava save Jamaica ? Let's think of the many meals that cassava could replace imported rice and flour for even one meal per day!. Think of the savings that would bring to the country in foreign exchange. For a start,bammy and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

We think we have become so modern/civilized when we stopped drinking bush teas. The world has gone crazy for the what we have growing in our yard so let us go back to drinking what we have rather than buying processed tea bags at the supermarkets.

I agree with you Native. We have to start utilizing what we have produced rather than importing foods that are not good for us. Bammy and scrambled eggs was my mother's favorite breakfast. Also bammy and soup, bammy and fish, bammy and pear, and bammy and bananas were some of the favorites we enjoyed as children and the world crave today.

Does anyone know the nutritional value (fiber content etc) of cassava (as normally processed into bammy) as compared to other so-called starches, such as brown rice, enriched flour pastas, or even potatoes?
How about "fat content" in the preparation (i.e., frying versus other methods). And for the "foodies" out there, or the Food Writers in our midst ("calling Ms Burke"), is there a comprehensive cookbook of cassava recipes? ...The Updated Taino...

For Enchantment, are there aphrodisiac-al (Afro what?))properties associated with this "root/rude" crop?
Besides that memorable folk image of women gratering cassava on devices tucked between thighs, is there such modern equipment as a cassava food processor ("the Cuisinart-sava") that would make quick work of cassava root from mi garden to kitchen counter?

How about a Contest of a Cassava/Bammy "fast food", such as the Jamaican patty or the Cornish(English) pasti?
Feeling Rootsie!

Just a little follow-up on the cassava opinions:
See Letter to the Gleaner (April 28,2008) by Verna Gordon Binns @ Luano, St Bess, "Risks of Ackee and Cassava" (e.g., "toxic substances...cyanogenic glycosides" with frequent ingestion of cassava.
.

laawd a would eat some a mi granny babby yah now
but unfortunately she nat around anymore R.I.P Mama
bammy wid any meat, soup.

Boiled Sweet cassava wid fry up tomato, onion and saltfish
as a matter of fact replace yam and potato wid sweet cassava in a meal...WOW

Mi live abroad and mi still but the sweet cassava at the Asian stores and boil it.

Zed fimi granparents live to be almost 90 years and dem eat bammy or cassava fe almost every day a dem long life and ie neva do dem any harm as a matter of fact it made dem stronger

I had some typos in my first post
babby should read bammy
but should read buy
thanks

Banny is delicious but do you all know how long it takes for them to grow before you can harvest the roots?

there are other food/fruits which contain cyanide and other toxins, so what?
taken from a report.....
see www.inchem.org/documents/cicads
Cyanide occurs naturally as cyanogenic glycosides in at least 2000 plants (Figure 1). Amygdalin (d-mandelonitrile-beta-d-glucoside-6-beta-d-glucoside) has been found in about 1000 species of plants, including cassava (tapioca, manioc), sweet potato, corn, cabbage, linseed, millet, and bamboo, in pits of stone fruits, such as cherries, peaches, and apricots, and in apple seeds (JECFA, 1993; Sharma, 1993; Padmaja, 1995). It is also present in bitter almonds and American white lima beans (Ermans et al., 1972). After ingestion, linamarin can be hydrolysed by either cassava linamarase or an endogenous beta-glucosidase to yield d-glucose and ACH (Frakes et al., 1986a).

Thanks Ali for keeping things in perspective with scientific light!

Pity we figet about "bammy,sweetcassava, turncornmeal,gungu/banabis/redbean and hamani soup.We betta staat plant agen.

This article( link below) contains interesting info about casava, its origins, nutition, and preparations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava

thanks for pointing that out sweet Cassava and Bammy were the staple food for all our great -great grandparents, I would love some fresh bammy right now with some fried fish.

much thanks to the enlightened people who read the posts on this website, to stop incomplete information from unnecessairly scaring people about food their ancestors have consumed for centuries without any ill effects, and lived long and productive lives,

we of the processed generation should be so lucky
living out of cans and on pills?

and further more i read a recent scientific report, that exposing the cassava pulp to sunlight does in fact cause the cyanide to dissipate to a level
that renders it harmless,

sounds familiar?? Bammy on the Zinc roof

education no only come from book

dem old people was smart bwoy!!


oldtimer

yes thats true bammy use to be dried on zinc and was called Bammy Bread in them times, use to love grate the cassava. and then put it into bags made from thatch and put in in the what they use to call a press, to be dried. what happen to those good old days.

It seems that 3/4 of the world effectively utilizes the casava as a staple. It has a long beneficial dietary history. I enjoy casava and my daughter has been eating casava since she was a baby and there have not been any ill-effects. Wish I lived a yard, so I could organically grow all my food. Casava can be used as a food staple, bio-fuel(ethanol), medicine, animal feed and more. Our earth has everything we need to eat, survive and heal but our evolutioned views of what it means to be "civilized" and wealthy keeps getting in our way!!! But mother nature keeps sending us reminders. So good to see Minister Tufton thinking proactively and trying to return Jamaica to self sufficiency and less dependency.

The only scientific information that I think we really need about cassava is how to increase the yields and preserve it so that it has a longer shelf life, make by products like chips and such the like.I understand that it could also be a main ingreadient in some animal feeds.

Once we develop the technology to keep the flour fresh for a long period there is a big market overseas.Most Jamaicans abroad would love to have some ever so often.

Cassava was eaten by many of our parents and grand parents almost every day . Those peolpe moved around on their feet like trucks, worked from cock put on im small clothes till duppy start walk and they hardly ever get sick.

I did picked up in school that the Indians in Jamaica made an intoxicating drink from cassava. Just goes to show how versatile that cassava is.

True it takes a few months to mature but it can stay in the ground and remain good for a very long time.That is why most farmers would plant cassava at different times so that they always have some that can be reaped.

Let us keep this cassava thread twisting and turning and stiching ideas and memories of how holistically our "Families in the Garden" once ate all the time...live foods, gently peeled or caressed or gratered or pinched or asking permission of some Organic to be sliced to become One Wid Us.

Politically, as di "Proph-ete", Michael Manley, talked about our "food security", planting the idea of the greater Carib-wide Farm, do we not, soulfully above all else, hunger for our own "comfort foods"?

Check out the Gleaner article, Jamaica"s Food Crisis- Replacing Rice" (5/1/2008).
www.jamaicagleaner.com/gleaner/2008051/cook/cook1.html

The article bids us to bring on di yam ("nyam"), sweet potato, Irish, breadfruit, plantain, green banana, and pumpkin with some rice(imported?) and peas scheduled in.

Yum! Cassava chips, pancake mix as a home grown alternative to imported flour-based products, served with local syrups (mango/jackfruit) versus North American maple syrup or "burnt sugar-water".

Why, pray gods, are our tastes so influenced by the sentiment that the Supra-market import is best?

Treasure Beach cookshops and chefs (Axel Axel), and experimental Jack Sprats and others...might you lead the way and invite us all in to taste all those wonderful new Cassava Recipes...My Little Test Kitchen is working on Cassava Polenta (skip the corn). Eat Locally & Life Foods! Live!

yes, I never appreciate the food in Jamaica until I live abroad---the green gungo soup and bammy. I was there for christmas and missed the cassava trees swaying in the breeze. the first day, my mother cooked yellow yam and fish--no other food, I would take a flight right now to eat some of the same meal. Jamaica food good!! god bless Jamaica. there is a lady in Sanat Cruz market from Warsop in Trelawny--is the best yam I ever eat. check her out!!

Jamaica, Cassava and the Global Food Crisis
JUICY CHEF

Thursday, May 01, 2008





I thought it prudent this week to take a break from my food tour, and speak of a current subject that affects us all: the basic right to food. I am no economist, but we are all witnesses to the rising oil prices which are approaching record-breaking levels and which in turn affect the price of everything, provisions especially. Recently, our neighbour island Haiti suffered terrible food riots due to the 40 per cent increase in costs, making many go hungry.

Nothing breaks my heart more than knowing that there are people out there who have no clean water to drink and empty stomachs. This is a grave international issue, but it is also a national concern. Those of us who shop for groceries on a regular basis are feeling the pinch. I can buy the same number of items this week for one price, and the following week, the same items are more expensive. The rising prices are happening so quickly that I am inspired to plant a little vegetable garden. I started last year with my little herb patch; why not a few vegetables? As suggested by The Honourable Christopher Tufton, Minister of agriculture, I am also encouraging us to eat more cassava.

We do need to grow more of our own food, and get creative cooking it. The trading price of rice, the world's beloved and cheapest grain, has climbed over the last month alone by 68% and is now attracting over US$25 per 100 pounds. In some countries, rice is being rationed due to scarcity and in others, you will witness stockpiles of rice in warehouses which cannot be sold. As a result, some restaurants in developing countries have had to close down because it is too expensive to operate. Rice-producing countries, such as India, are also beginning to reduce their exports to overseas countries in order to protect their domestic markets.

I recently read an article by a BBC journalist, Kate Thomas, entitled "Liberians drop rice for spaghetti", which showed that there is a rise in pasta cook shops in Liberia, a nation which traditionally consumes much rice, because people cannot afford it any longer and are tailoring their national palate by using pasta to replace rice. You will recall that Liberia suffered from a terrible civil war, and unlike Jamaica, its agricultural sector is nowhere as advanced as ours.
Ironically, we need to upgrade our system of growing here, but when you put it into context and compare us to other developing nations we really are not badly off, therefore we should take pride that we are in a position to properly take advantage of our fertile soil.



According to financial analysts Bloomberg, from March 2007 to March 2008, the price of basic food commodities such as corn has risen by 31%, rice 74%, soya 87% and wheat, a whopping 130%! This is why times are tough for our bakeries and bread production. You really can't quarrel with them, because external influences are out of their control.

What is an elementary solution? Simply start growing! In England, you will find allotments in urban areas. Basically, an allotment is an open area with soil, which hasn't been used, and is transformed into a mini vegetable farm. It could be an open piece of land at the end of a neighbourhood street, and the people collectively tend to the land and plant potatoes, tomatoes, corn, pumpkin, and fruit for example, basically, whatever can be grown in that particular geographic spot.

Given this background, Jamaica produces wonderful root vegetables such as yam, sweet potato, dasheen, coco and the now en vogue cassava. Here are two cassava recipes from other countries with similar climates to ours, and also in keeping with the international trend my column has been following in recent weeks. However, I have to add a recipe for my favourite Jamaican cassava treat, bammy.

Remember to support local produce, encourage our farmers, and if you have a bit of idle land in the country, or a spacious garden, why don't you reserve a patch and get planting? If you can't do it yourself get somebody to do it for you and create a job or two!

Cuban Yucca

Yucca is the Spanish word for cassava. I ate cassava in this style of preparation when I lived in Miami and dined with my Cuban friends. Try this recipe as a side dish with some grilled pork chops and steamed greens.
Ingredients:
3 cassavas, the sweet variety
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil, warmed through
2 limes, juiced
Method:
Peel, remove fibrous centre and chop cassava into chunks.
Cook in salted water for about 20 minutes. Drain and remove from water.
Mash the cassava, as you would potatoes.
Add garlic, lime juice, warmed oil and mix well.

Brazilian Style Cassava and
Cheese Fritters

I tried these from a buffet line during breakfast at the hotel I stayed in when I was in Rio de Janeiro. Simple and yummy!

Ingredients:

3 cassavas
200g sharp cheddar, shredded
4 eggs, whisked
1 large stalk escallion, finely chopped
Couple sprigs of cilantro, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for frying
Method

Boil the cassava for 20 minutes, drain, and mash (as in the above recipe)

Add remaining ingredients except oil and mix well.
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan.

To make a fritter, use a tablespoon and pick up a heaped amount of the mixture and drop gently into hot oil, continue like this until all the mixture is used up.

Fry on each side for about 3 minutes or until golden brown.
Jamaican Bammy

Everybody loves bammy, especially with fried fish. The steamed variety tastes great too, but to be honest, I have never cooked it this way myself, so this recipe is for the fried variety. If you don't have the time or inclination to make it from scratch, there are some great ready-made products on the market which my mother uses sometimes and soaks in milk prior to frying. You will need muslin cloth, a 10-inch ring mould and a small round frying pan.

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet cassava, grated
1 can of coconut milk
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method:

Place the grated cassava into the muslin cloth, and squeeze out excess liquid.
Add salt.

Press a cupful into mould ring to make circle shape, conversely you can place it directly into a greased frying pan and press down hard.

Fry on both sides until the shape holds and it begins to change colour. Remove from heat.

Prepare a large bowl with the coconut milk and place the bammy inside and soak for 10 minutes.

Remove and continue frying the bammy until golden brown on both sides.

Bon Appétit!

Jacqui Sinclair is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef/food stylist & hotelier. She has worked in the world of food photography and film in Europe. A bon vivant, she is passionate about sharing her food secrets with enthusiastic home cooks.

I dont like bammy.........yakky

Cassava french fries,or i should say jamaica fries,i think there will be something for everyone tast bud.keep the bammy recipe rolling ,thats my dish morning noon and night.

Bammy no!too much starch....

There is a good book that refers to this situation. IT is called the 'hundred mile diet'. I would refer anyone to reading it if they can get there hand on it. Also, the benefit of staying local is that farmers get good reliable business which does not consume too much gas to transport goods.

how to steam bammy

Yesterday my Congolese friend invited me to lunch,and I had cassava leaves (leaf) yes cassava leaves, it was wonderful taste like calaloo cook same way. I had to have a doggy bag. She was also telling me about palmnut the orange thing that grows on palm tree it can make porridge and palm nut oil. I can't wait to get the recipes.

Google "cassava" and you'll seee how it's a very good source of starch and no cholesterol. Many African and South American nations have gone big time into farming cassava to feed their people. Only in Jamaica have some tried to denigrate cassava publicly(while nyamming it in private),because it was being touted by a certain politician. Leggo the bammy!

Here is the secret of another of our well loved staples. Callaloo.

http://www.marintellect.com/portfolio/www.sacredfoods.com/amaranth.html

I assume our old time people had it too, some Ital cooks will add it to a stew to boost protein, most of us only know the leaf of a couple of varieties.

I'm not promoting this product, they had the best history of the plant I could find. That honey asmaranth bar looks a winner if the seed was available here (see within site). Jamaican logwood etc honey and organic amaranth bar with cashew came to mind. Bowl, One Man etc I bet well packaged nutritious and tasty bars would sell across the island. If the taste and texture is right. May other food peoducts can also be made from it. Seeds of many varieties are available and can be found on the internet.

The farmer, St Elizabeth, the apiary people all isand and the cashews from Manchester and St Elizabeth.

The full grown agricultural amaranth is a big plant with heads full of tiny seeds. Smaller than sesame. Some of us know a red callaloo which can grow bigger than the wild one. Countryman at Healthshire named us over two dozen varieties.

TBNet, I'll resend with another non commercial link if need be.

Hmmm...cassava and amaranth pancakes with honey.

Sorry about the spelling.

turey
wow
you are always so full of information
thanks

Thanks Twisted Sista.

Each one Teach one.

My only comment here is that I am going to try the recipes given using cassava as soon as I go the supermarket to pick some up - as a matter of fact I am having family over tomorrow (easter sunday) and I am going to surprise them with something from the list given. Just love mi jamaican food and wish I was home to eat more of the things I didn't eat when I was living in Jamaica.

I plant calaloo here in Atlanta and refrigerate to use during the year and right now I am about to sew my seeds to plant as soon as it gets warm enough.
Keep up the good work.

By the way does anyone know how to make Ginger Sugar or where it can be purchased? I used to buy it in the Black River Market but the last time I was home and went there the lady who sells it was not there as her husband died earlier that month.

Has anyone ever tried the cassava pudding or pone? It ranks right up there with the potato and corn pone. For real!

Have had cassava fries made by the Cubans. And cassava pudding made by another culture. Just devine.