Talk:Cassava/@comment-27110032-20151023131811

Note: fresh cassava leaves and cassava tubers contain cyanide. Thus, a thorough soaking and rinsing process to leech out the cyanide is absolutely required before using fresh cassava tubers or fresh cassava leaves in any recipes. The cyanide is inside the leaves and tubers, so a simple outside rinse is not sufficient. It means that to use fresh cassava leaves or tubers safely, one needs to do soaking and multiple rinsings, with pressing or squeezing out the rinse water from the leaves  including with the last rinse with boiled water and discard all rinse water after every rinse. This adds at least an hour of pre-recipe preparation. Fresh cassava tubers are soaked for three days and rinsed mutliple times with all water discarded. Cassava tubers can also be cut into small chunks and then spread out on ground mats and sun-dried, which will also help reduce the cyanide content. Here in Africa is this a daily routine and part of preparation of any  recipe requiring cassava. Commercially prepared frozen cassava leaves or canned cassava leaves or cassava starch have had this important step done already.