Manyoco - Yuca Root - from the General History

[Mission]

I was slightly fascinated by a description of a food called Manyoco from the 3rd Edition of the General History of the Pyrates by Charles Johnson. The text was not written by Johnson, rather "they were communicated to me by an ingenious Gentleman, lately arrived from those Parts."

The General History of the Pyrates[/i]' ]Manyoco. A Root that shoots its Branches about the height of a Currant Bush, from this Root the Islanders make a Farine or Flower, which they sell at three Ryals a Roove, and drive a considerable Trade for it with the Ships that call in. The manner of making it, is first to press the Juice from it,

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(which is poisonous) done here with Engines, and then the Negroe Women, upon a rough Stone, rub it into a granulated Flower, reserved in their Houses, either to boil, as we do our Wheat, and is a hearty Food for the Slaves; or make it into a Bread, fine, white, and well tasted, for themselves. One thing worth taking Notice about Manyoco in this Island, is, that the Woods abound with a wild poisonous and more mortiferous Sort, which sometimes Men, unskilled in the Preparation of it, feed on to their Destruction. This the Missionaries assured me they often experimented in their Hogs, and believed we did in the Mortality of our Sailors.

(Johnson, 3^rd, p. 199-200)

This information comes from a section in the Howell Davis account in the General History called "A Description of the Islands of St. Thome, Del Principe, and Annobono" (São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobón are islands in the Gulf of Guinea off the western coast of central Africa.) I was particularly curious about the 'engine' he mentions in this account:

It turns out what the writer called 'Manyoco' (Manyoko) is a product of the Yuca Root. I learned this via a forum called Arrowheadology which is devoted to the study of Indians and Indian artifacts. Forum user MidlandMan on that site gives an explanation which agrees with the General History in many ways, although the General History author appears to have used the term 'manyoko' - an element of the processed yuca root - with the yuca itself.

MidlandMan[/i]']The {Yuca] tubers are peeled of the outer coating and soaked in baskets in the river for a day or so, the longer the more sour, and then grated on a board studded with sharp rocks. The resulting massa is placed into the sabucan press and notches in the frame are moved down until all the liquid is expreemed. A large wooden morter is used to further refine the flour befor it is sifted and placed on the budare griddle. Casabe cooks into a cake whereas manyoko is stirred continualy making a granular like product. The cooked down cyanide is used not only to make catara but also used as soup stock. The bachaco ants impart a very delicious flavor. Only the head is eaten and the body discarded. Bachacos are also roasted and eaten. Only within the last seventy years have the Yanomami learned the process. The Hoti (WauroWauro) only consume the sweet yuca as they are very nomadic and seldom remain in one local long and have a very limited material culture.

I was most interested to learn what the 'engine' referred to. You can read the full thread which includes several photos here on the Arrowheadology site.

[jendobyns]

Also known as manioc, or manioc root (similar root word). This I remember from grade school or middle school social studies regarding South American indigenous peoples, because as a child I liked tapioca pudding. Check out this article:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-yucca-root-manioc-cassava.html

[Mission]

Ah, so that means the author didn't necessarily get it wrong, he just (per usual in 17th/18th c. texts) spelled the local word so badly it couldn't be found by Google.

[jendobyns]

Much of what is written in that time needs to be looked at with an eye toward the speller's dialect, or the dialect of the people being written about. Non standardized spelling is a wonderful window into the writer's own dialect sometimes. Manyoko could have been a local dialect, or a different grammatical form of the word where a non-native speaker might not understand. Or the term could have evolved among the native peoples between then and the 20th century. Lots of reasons why it wouldn't have been in that form in Google.

[Jib]

Is cavasa root the same as manioc?

[Grymm]

Yup =o) Yuca and Yucca are not the same plant though,

Yuca is cassava/manioc etc

and Yucca is the spikey ornamental plant

Edited May 14, 2012 by Grymm

[Jib]

If my knowledge is correct cassava can be toxic if processed incorrectly. The process of squeezing out the starchy material is also very labor intensive (but cassava is still a food staple in many parts of the world). I seem to recall an issue of National Geographic mentioning this.

[jendobyns]

If my knowledge is correct cassava can be toxic if processed incorrectly. The process of squeezing out the starchy material is also very labor intensive (but cassava is still a food staple in many parts of the world). I seem to recall an issue of National Geographic mentioning this.

I seem to remember that toxicity issue, too, but don't remember how it was overcome. Fermentation? Roasting? Where'd you leave that NatGeo?

[Mission]

According to Johnson (the original quote that started this thread):

"The manner of making it, is first to press the Juice from it,

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(which is poisonous) done here with Engines..."

I believe they show a photo of those 'engines' on that other forum I linked to in the first post.

[Quartermaster James]

Well, we just parcook them in water, then fry them in oil. It seems it is the bigger, bitter roots that are pressed to extract the starch.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava#Food_use_processing_and_toxicity

Also, this yuca is pronounced yoo-cuh, not yuk-uh!

An aside: raw taro, it turns out, is also toxic raw.

[Daniel]

Geoffrey Parker once described manioc as "one of the most productive and least demanding crops ever grown by man." Assuming it doesn't poison you, I guess.

[Jib]

I remember them pressing the tubers and making a flour which was said to have very little protein (compared to say wheat). It also appears in the series "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (now available on Netflix).

[sutlerjon]

If anyone feels they want try the stuff we can get it in the Caribe Markets, here in the Orlando area, by the ton! We can get cassava bread pre-made, I'm not sure about the flour .... but if I look that's probably available too.

I work with many people who grew up in the Islands.

One of my Haitian co-workers was reading over my shoulder (Buccaneers Realm) and filled me in on what they were taught in school about the "Flibustiers", (Filibusters in English).

He called them "Forest People" and said they were "very bad men".