Cassareep

Production

Cassareep is made from the juice of the bitter cassava root, which is poisonous, as it contains acetone cyanohydrin, a compound which decomposes to the highly toxic hydrogen cyanide on contact with water. Hydrogen cyanide, traditionally called "prussic acid", is volatile and quickly dissipates when heated.{{Cite book

To make cassareep, the juice is boiled until it is reduced by half in volume,{{Cite journal

Most cassareep is exported from Guyana.{{Cite news | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130131185106/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/938197691.html?dids=938197691:938197691&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+07,+2005&author=WAVENEY+ANN+MOORE&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&desc=HAPPY+HERITAGE+Series:+TASTE;+TO+MARKET&pqatl=google | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-01-31 | access-date = 2009-07-11}} The natives of Guyana traditionally brought the product to town in bottles,{{Cite book | url-access = registration

Culinary use

Cassareep is essential in the preparation of pepperpot, and gives the dish its "distinctive bittersweet flavor".{{Cite book

A peculiar quality of cassareep, which works as an antiseptic, is that it allows food to be kept "on the back of the stove" for indefinite lengths of time,{{Cite book |author2-link=Otis Warren Barrett | url-access = registration

Medical application

The antiseptic qualities of cassareep are well known. The Reverend J.G. Wood, who published his Wanderings in South America in 1879, was criticized for not mentioning the "antiseptic properties of cassava juice (cassareep), which enables the Indian on a canoe voyage to take with him a supply of meat for several days".{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}} p. 149.

In the mid- to late 19th century, as reports of adventures by English explorers became widely read in England, statements about cassareep and its antiseptic qualities became easily available. An early example was a publication in The Pharmaceutical Journal from 1847,{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}} p. 382. and similar references can be found throughout the late 19th century, such as in the work of Irish naturalist and explorer Thomas Heazle Parke{{Cite book | author-link = Thomas Heazle Parke | access-date = 2009-11-12}} p. 411 and trade journals.{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}}

In the 1870 edition of the Year-book of Pharmacy, Professor Attfield, professor of practical chemistry for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, claimed, however, that his laboratory studies proved no effectiveness whatsoever.{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}}

Even so, pharmaceutical journals and handbooks began to report of the possible use of cassareep, and suggested it might be helpful in the treatment of, for instance, eye afflictions such as corneal ulcers{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}}{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}}{{Cite journal | access-date = 2009-11-12}} and conjunctivitis.{{Cite book

References

Bibliography

• {{Cite book

References

1. (1991). "The toxic effects of cassava (manihot esculenta grantz) diets on humans: a review.". Vet. Hum. Toxicol..
2. (1998). "Cyanogenesis in Cassava : The Role of Hydroxynitrile Lyase in Root Cyanide Production". Plant Physiol..