Manioc is a root which contains poison. But the Indians who live in the Amazon River basin have found a way to make this plant edible and they have transformed it into their staple food.

The word ‘manioc’ comes from the Tupi Indian, meaning ‘house of Mani’. The legend told by the Indians says that that Mani was a fair-skinned, very beautiful little girl and the daughter of a chief. Mani died when she was one year old and the whole tribe came to mourn at the hut where she was buried. Then a strange plant began to grow from the child’s grave. Birds which pecked and nibbled at the plant became intoxicated. One day the earth opened up to reveal the white tuber of the plant and the Tupi saw in this tuber the body of little Mani. They ate it and in this way learned how to use manioc.

The method of removing the poison from the tuber is very laborious and is a task left for the women to do. They scrape the tuber with wooden boards fitted with stone teeth, then squeeze the pulp and strain the juice through a filter made of plant materials. The pulp is washed several times and then shaped into large slabs which are put on the roof to dry in the Sun. When manioc is chewed and then left to ferment it produces an alcoholic beverage which is greatly enjoyed by the Indians.