The Test of Tapioca sago!

Most welcomed The Test of Tapioca sago!
 

Tapioca Sago (Sabudana)is a processed, ready to cook agricultural food product. The only raw material for manufacturing Sabudana is “Tapioca Root” internationally known as “Cassava”. For infants and sick persons or during fasts (vrata-upawas), Sabudana is considered an acceptable form of nutrition. It is used in a variety of dishes such as desserts like “kheer” (boiled with sweetened milk) or Khichadi, vada, bonda etc. (mixed with Potatoes, Ground nuts, rock-salt, black-pepper or green chillies). 

 

 

Tapioca Sago is commonly Known as "SABUDANA साबुदाना" in Hindi, "Shaabakki" in Kannada or JAVARISHI in Tamil, in India. Sabudana (Sago) is a produce, prepared purely from Tapioca Root ("cassava") Botanical name is “Manihot Esculenta Crantz Syn. Utilissima”.

    I love all items which is made with sabudana. So its amazingly loved with fray on oil and so, I write something about it. It closely resembles Sago Palm, as both are typically small (about 2 mm diameter) dry, opaque balls. Both are white in colour (if even is very pure). When soaked and cooked, both become much larger, translucent, soft and spongy. Both are widely used in and around the world, usually in puddings.

In India, the names ‘Sago‘, ‘Tapioca Sago‘, ‘Tapioca Globules‘, ‘Sabudana‘, ‘Javvarisi‘, ‘Sabbakki’, ‘Saggubeeyam‘ are all used for the same commodity ‘Sabudana’. It is called ‘Javvarisi‘ in Tamil, ‘Sabudana‘ in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi & Marathi, ‘Sabbakki’ (in Kannada), ‘Chavvari’ (in Malayalam) and ‘Saggubeeyam’ (in Telugu) among other regional and local names. 

 

The word Tapioca and ‘Tapioca Root (Cassava)’has different meanings. “Tapioca” is a product being extracted from cassava root (Manihot esculenta), shaped in lump forms,roasted and dried. In Brazil, cassava is called mandioca while its starch is called tapioca, a word derived from the word tipi’óka, its name in the Tupí language spoken by natives when the Portuguese first arrived in the North-east Region of Brazil. This Tupí word refers to the process by which the cassava starch made edible. As the food and word taken to other world regions, “tapioca” was applied to similar food preparations. In India, the term “Tapioca-Root” is used to represent the tuber of cassava and word ‘Tapioca’ represents for derived starch from cassava roasted in a particular shape.

 

This is a well known crop that is recognized by several names in the various regions where it is consumed. It is known as yuca, rumu or manioca in Latin America, manioc in French-speaking Africa and Madagascar, cassava in English-speaking Africa, Ceylon and Thailand, mandioca or aipim in Brazil, tapioca in India and Malaysia, and bi ketella or kaspe in Indonesia (FAO, 1998). Sweet varieties of the crop such as Manihot utilissima Pohl are reported to have lower levels of cyanogenic glycosides, while bitter-tasting varieties exemplified by cultivars such as Manihot palmata Muell and Manihot aipr Pohl are thought to have higher levels of cyanogenic glycosides. These cultivars fall within the species Manihot esculenta Crantz which belongs to the family Euphorblaceae (Dixon, 1979; Lancaster et al., 1982; FAO 1998).

 

Tapioca root has a high resistance to plant disease and high tolerance to extreme stress conditions such as periods of drought and poor soils. Fresh roots contain about 60 – 70% moisture, 7 – 12% protein, 5 – 13% starch (32 – 35% total carbohydrate) and trace amounts of fat (Lancaster et al., 1982; Jackson, 1990; FAO, 1998). The high starch and moisture content render it extremely perishable. (Hahn 1989; Mlingi et al., 1996). Processing is therefore indispensable to facilitate preservation, improve palatability and product quality as well as reduce cyanogenic glycoside toxicity (Jones, 1998).

 

 

The cassava or manioc plant has its origin in South America. Amazonian Indians used cassava instead of or in addition to rice/potato/maize. Portuguese explorers introduced cassava to Africa through their trade with the African coasts and nearby islands.

Tapioca was introduced in India during the later part of the 19th Century, Now, mainly grown in the States of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, & Tamil Nadu. Products from Tapioca like Starch & Sago introduced in India only in the 1940s upwards. First by hand manually & later developed indigenous production methods.

     Currently, The Tamil Nadu State stands first in respect of processing of tapioca into starch & sago, in India. In India, Sago was produced first in Salem (Tamil Nadu)in 1943-44, about some 50 years ago. Sago production started on a cottage scale basis in India by pulping the tapioca roots, filtering the milk-extract and after settling the milk, forming globules and roasting these globules.

Tapioca Root is the basic raw material for Sago and starch. There is about 30% to 35% starch contents generally in Indian tapioca root. India is one of the leading countries in tapioca production. About 650 to 700 units is engaged in tapioca processing in Salem district (Tamil Nadu State). It is a very nutritious product as it contains Carbohydrates and appreciable amount of Calcium and Vitamin-C.

 

The Root, received from the farms are hygienically cleaned in water. After peeling the skin, it is crushed, allowed to pass the milk after retaining all fiber & impurities. The milk is settled in a tank for nearly 3 to 8 hours. Thus, all residual impurities float to the top of the tank and are drained out of the settled milk. From this settled Milk Cake, Globules are made by a unique type of system, on a very simple indigenous machine. After sizing the globules by filtering through sieve, it is roasted on hot plates or heated in steam, depending upon the desired final product and then dried under direct sunlight on large platforms.

 

Roasted Sago is known as Tapioca Sago Common and Boiled Sago as Nylon Tapioca Sago.

 

Varieties , Size & Colour of Tapioca Sago

Currently, in 2014, There are two varieties popular in India. First, Common Sabudana, which is Roasted and dried and Second, Nylon Sabudana, which is steam boiled and dried.

Roasted (Common Sabudana) is manufactured in three sizes as

(1) between 1mm to 1.5 mm dia (locally known as Motidana and popularly used in Eastern part of India),

 

(2) between 2 mm to 2.5 mm dia (it is international standard size and locally known as ‘Khirdana’), and

 

(3) between 3 mm to 4 mm dia (the common popular size all over India, locally called ‘Badadana’).

Boiled (Nylon Sabudana) is also manufactured in three sizes as

(1) of 2 mm dia (locally known as ‘Chinidana’ or ‘Smaller Ceylon nylon’),

 

(2) of 3 mm dia (popularly called as ‘Ceylon Nylon'), and

 

(3) between 5 to 7 mm dia (which is called locally as ‘Glass Nylon’ or 'Phooldana')

Roasted variety is soaking more water than Boiled Variety, whereas, if frying, Boiled variety becomes more larger in expansion than Roasted Sabudana.

Similarly, Boiled Sabudana variety has more transparency in appearance, whereas Roasted Variety has no transparency.

Colour of the two varieties are also different, as Boiled variety becomes glowing transparent creamer-yellow colour, whereas Roasted variety retains the original natural white colour of cassava extract like Milk colour.