Chapter 316: Being Too Careful
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Tapiocas were poisonous, but at the same time, they were also one of the three major potato crops in the modern world. They were the third-largest produced food crop in the tropical region and the sixth-largest produced food crop in the world. They were known as the “king of starch”.
The tapioca had excellent characteristics such as easy to grow, cultivate, advanced yield, and high harvestability during all seasons. It could be extracted into starch and was widely used in the market.
For example, before the apocalypse, the pearls in the world-famous pearl milk tea were made of tapioca powder.
For example, the snacks that girls liked, taro b.a.l.l.s, hemp potatoes, glutinous rice b.a.l.l.s, and so on, all required tapioca flour.
Apart from making daily delicacies, tapioca was also widely used as feed, starch, glucose fuel, and ethanol.
Bai Wutong picked up the tapioca in Village Chief Zhao’s hand and was about to speak when Lu Ye saw this and hurriedly said, “Madam, the tapioca is poisonous. Put it down quickly.”
Before Bai Wutong could react, Chu Tianbao had already s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her hand and threw the tapioca to the ground.
The tapioca was smashed into two pieces, revealing its white flesh. It looked extremely delicious.
When everyone heard Lu Ye’s shout, they surrounded over. When they saw the tapioca on the ground that had been shattered into two sections, Wen Renhua walked forward and tested it with a silver needle.
The moment the silver needle was pulled out, it turned black.
Bai Wutong widened her eyes in surprise, as if she was acting in a television drama.
Wen Renhua said, “This thing contains poison.”
The others who were holding the tapioca and wanted to try it first were so frightened that they immediately threw it away.
Especially Lin Yue, who had peeled the tapioca skin clean and opened his mouth. In the next second, the tapioca was quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed away by Qingfeng.
He almost died. Thinking that he had yet to marry Qingfeng, Lin Yue was so afraid that his eyes stopped moving.
Qingfeng comforted him with her eyes and warned him not to be gluttony in the future.
Lin Yue nodded aggrievedly. He just thought that this thing was similar to sweet potatoes. How could he have known that it was poisonous?
Fortunately, his wife had saved his life.
It was good to have a wife.
His love for his wife would not change for 10,000 years!
Chu Tianbao instructed, “Inform Lord You not to let anyone eat it.”
“Yes!’
Auntie Yang looked at the tapioca on the ground and said regretfully, “It’s actually not edible. Sigh If only it could be eaten.”
Lu Ye said, “When we first arrived, our rations were depleted. Many of our brothers ate a few pieces of tapioca. They were fine when they first ate it, but after twitching for a while, many people died. Most of our brothers who were lucky enough not to die have their lower limbs paralyzed.”
Auntie Yang asked, “If it’s cooked, can it be eaten?”
They were all farmers and knew that some food could be eaten as long as it was cooked.
For example, mushrooms could kill people if eaten raw.
Lu Ye lowered his eyes. “We’ve cooked it before, but unfortunately that does not work. Everyone will still have severe diarrhea, dizziness, and weakness in their limbs. Later, we learned from the locals that this plant is called tapioca. It will be extracted into venom to make poisonous darts.”
Although tapiocas were poisonous, the poison could be removed.
As long as the inner skin was peeled off and soaked in water for a long time, and it was boiled for the first time and another second time, once the lid of the pot was removed, the poison would evaporate and the soup could be eaten.
If the tapioca was steamed with the skin and had been covered with a pot lid, the poison inside would not evaporate. Even if it was cooked, there would still be residual poison.
Bai Wutong glanced at the place where the tapioca was dug. Under a tapioca vine, there were more than ten baby-sized tapiocas growing together. The locals actually did not know about such high harvest rate food item. Bai Wutong asked Lu Ye, “Then what are the locals’ staple foods?”
Lu Ye said, ‘The locals mainly eat rice made of a kind of pulp on the tree, but the yield is not high. The locals also treat this tree as a treasure. As long as we get half-step closer, they will shoot us with poisonous darts.”
When Bai Wutong heard about the rice made of the sap on the tree, she thought of sago. It was made of starch extracted from palm plants and processed into a shape like small pearls.
There was also a type of rice made from tapioca flour, wheat starch, and corn flour.
There were so many tapiocas here that they could make sago too.
Pomelo sago was still a very famous dessert.
Bai Wutong suddenly smiled mysteriously. ‘They won’t let us get close now, but they’ll beg us in the future. ‘
While everyone was confused, Bai Wutong asked Village Chief Zhao to bring her a few tapiocas and asked the chef to set up the big pot.
Seeing that she was unwilling to give up and wanted to try the tapioca, Lu Ye said agitatedly, “Madam, you really can’t eat it!”
Bai Wutong smiled disapprovingly. “I’ve seen this kind of thing in a book. The tapioca can be eaten, but your previous approach was wrong.”
Lu Ye hurriedly shook his head. ‘We’ve tried eating raw and boiled.”
Bai Wutong pointed at the large pot that had been set up on the spot. “Did you not peel the skin and only casually put it in the pot to cook?”
Lu Ye thought for a moment and nodded blankly.
Bai Wutong confirmed, “The book says that tapioca can only be boiled after the skin is peeled off. This is because the outer skin is the most poisonous. When it’s boiled, you have to change the water and boil it twice. At the end, you have to pour the water away before it can be eaten. If you drink the soup, or if you don’t peel or cook it, you will be poisoned.”
Everyone was stunned when they heard this. A huge doubt appeared in Lu Ye’s mind. “Will it really work?”
Bai Wutong smiled. “Yes, that’s what the book says. Moreover, the lid of the pot can’t be closed when boiling. If the poison can’t be released, it will still cause diarrhea.”
Auntie Yang sighed. “This thing is too troublesome. If I forget it one day, won’t
I get myself killed?”
Bai Wutong nodded. “That’s why we have to be careful when cooking tapioca. However, it has a high production rate. If it’s made into tapioca powder, we can take it out and use it at any time, so it won’t be so difficult.”
Auntie Yang asked again, ‘Then do we have to cook it again after making it into tapioca noodles?”
When they made sweet potato noodles, they only needed to grind the sweet potato into dregs, add water, filter out the powder, and dry it.
Bai Wutong smiled and said, “The book says that after the tapioca powder is peeled, washed, sieved, washed, separated, dehydrated, and dried, the poison in the tapioca has been completely isolated. You can just use it in peace.”
Auntie Yang looked excited. “If it’s really as Madam said and the tapiocas are edible, we won’t have to worry about shortage of food after digging up the tapiocas here.
Because this thing was poisonous, no one had dug up the large patches of tapioca nearby.
Chu Tianbao glanced at the green tapioca plant and held Bai Wutong’s hand tightly.
He knew that what Bai Wutong said must be true. The tapioca was definitely edible.
Bai Wutong blinked at Chu Tianbao. “However, this is all in the books. Let’s cook some tapiocas and try it first.”
Everyone still trusted Bai Wutong’s ability. Bai Wutong wanted to cook tapiocas, so many people in Youjia Village also followed her and dug up some tapiocas to learn how to eat them.
This was very likely to be their rations for the future..