Cassareep is a thick black liquid made from cassava root, often with additional spices, which is used as a base for many sauces and especially in Guyanese pepperpot. Besides use as a flavoring and browning agent, it is commonly regarded as a food preservative although laboratory testing is inconclusive.
Cassareep is made from the juice of the bitter cassava root, which is poisonous (it contains acetone cyanohydrin, a compound which decomposes to the highly toxic hydrogen cyanide on contact with water). [1] Hydrogen cyanide, traditionally called "prussic acid", is volatile and quickly dissipates when heated. [2] Nevertheless, improperly cooked cassava has been blamed for a number of deaths. [3] Indigenous peoples in Guyana reportedly made an antidote by steeping chili peppers in rum. [4]
To make cassareep, the juice is boiled until it is reduced by half in volume, [5] to the consistency of molasses [4] and flavored with spices—including cloves, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper. [6] Traditionally, cassareep was boiled in a soft pot, the actual "pepper pot", which would absorb the flavors and also impart them (even if dry) to foods such as rice and chicken cooked in it. [7]
Most cassareep is exported from Guyana. [8] The natives of Guyana traditionally brought the product to town in bottles, [9] and it is available on the US market in bottled form. [10] Though the cassava root traveled from Brazil to Africa, where the majority of cassava is grown, there is no production of cassareep in Africa. [11]
Cassareep is used for two distinct goals, that originate from two important aspects of the ingredient: its particular flavor, and its preservative quality.
Cassareep is essential in the preparation of pepperpot, and gives the dish its "distinctive bittersweet flavor." [12] Cassareep can also be used as an added flavoring to dishes, "imparting upon them the richness and flavour of strong beef-soup." [5]
A peculiar quality of cassareep, which works as an antiseptic, is that it allows food to be kept "on the back of the stove" [13] for indefinite lengths of time, [14] as long as additional cassareep is added every time meat is added. According to legend, Betty Mascoll of Grenada had a pepperpot that was maintained like this for more than a century. [13] Dutch planters in Suriname reportedly had pepperpots in daily use that they kept cooking for many years, [5] as did "businessmen's clubs" in the Caribbean. [15]
The antiseptic qualities of cassareep are well known—so well known, in fact, that the Reverend J.G. Wood, who published his Wanderings in South America in 1879, was criticized for not mentioning the "antiseptic properties of cassava juice (cassareep), which enables the Indian on a canoe voyage to take with him a supply of meat for several days." [16]
In the mid- to late nineteenth century, as reports of adventures by English explorers became widely read in England, statements about cassareep and its antiseptic qualities became easily available; an early example was a publication in The Pharmaceutical Journal from 1847, [17] and similar references can be found throughout the late nineteenth century, such as in the work of Irish naturalist and explorer Thomas Heazle Parke [18] and in pharmaceutical [19] and trade journals. [20] Professor Attfield, professor of practical chemistry for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, however, in the 1870 edition of the Year-book of Pharmacy, claimed that his laboratory studies proved no effectiveness whatsoever. [21] Still, pharmaceutical journals and handbooks began to report of the possible use of cassareep, and suggested it might be helpful in the treatment of, for instance, eye afflictions such as corneal ulcers [22] [23] [24] [25] and conjunctivitis. [26]
The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavor that a bay leaf imparts to a dish has not been universally agreed upon, but most agree it is a subtle addition.
Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca, is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil and parts of the Andes. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy root tuber, a major source of carbohydrates. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are used to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes. The Brazilian farinha, and the related garri of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, and finally drying it.
Tapioca is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant, a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America. It is a perennial shrub adapted to the hot conditions of tropical lowlands. Cassava copes better with poor soils than many other food plants.
Guyanese culture reflects the influence of African, Indian, Amerindian, British, Portuguese, Chinese, Creole, and Dutch cultures. Guyana is part of the mainland Caribbean region. Guyanese culture shares a continuum with the cultures of islands in the West Indies.
Mojo is the name, or abbreviated name, of several types of sauces, varying in spiciness, consisting primarily of olive oil, local pepper varieties, garlic, paprika, cumin or coriander, and other spices. Mojo originated in the Canary Islands, where the main varieties are green mojo, red mojo, and spicy red mojo. Other countries have recipes similar to mojo, where acidic ingredients such as vinegar, lemon, orange, or lime juice may be used.
Sancocho is a traditional stew in several Latin American cuisines. Variations represent popular national dishes in Dominican Republic, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. It usually consists of large pieces of meat, tubers and vegetables served in a broth.
Sopa de mondongo is a soup made from diced tripe slow-cooked with vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic or root vegetables. The dish is generally prepared in former Spanish colonies in Latin America, Caribbean, and in the Philippines.
Pepper Pot is a thick stew of beef tripe, vegetables, pepper and other seasonings. The soup was first made in West Africa and the Caribbean before being brought to North America through slave trade and made into a distinctively Philadelphian dish by colonial Black women during the nineteenth century.
Pepperpot is an Amerindian-derived dish popular in Guyana. It is traditionally served at Christmas and other special events. Along with chicken curry, and cook-up rice, pepperpot is one of Guyana's national dishes.
Colombian cuisine is a compound of the culinary traditions of the six main regions within Colombia. Colombian cuisine varies regionally and is particularly influenced by Indigenous Colombian, Spanish, and African cuisines, with slight Arab influence in some regions. As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Colombia has one of the widest variety of available ingredients depending on the region.
The Patamona are an Amerindian people native to the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana and northern Brazil. They speak a Cariban language, Kapóng, and have often been referred to interchangeably as Akawaio or Ingariko. Patamona are considered a sub-group of Kapon people.
Dominican cuisine is made up of Spanish, indigenous Taíno, Middle Eastern and African influences. The most recent influences in Dominican cuisine are from the British West Indies and China.
Piper auritum is an aromatic culinary herb in the pepper family Piperaceae, which grows in tropical Central America. Common names include hoja santa, yerba santa, hierba santa, Mexican pepperleaf, acuyo, tlanepa, anisillo, root beer plant, Vera Cruz pepper and sacred pepper.
Haitian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices from Haiti. It is a Creole cuisine that originates from a blend of several culinary styles that populated the western portion of the island of Hispaniola, namely African, French, indigenous Taíno, Spanish and Arab influences. Haitian cuisine has some similarities with "criollo" cooking and similar to the rest of the Latin Caribbean, but differs in several ways from its regional counterparts. Flavors are bold and spicy demonstrating African and French influences, with notable derivatives coming from native Taíno and Spanish techniques.
West African cuisine encompasses a diverse range of foods that are split between its 16 countries. In West Africa, many families grow and raise their own food, and within each there is a division of labor. Indigenous foods consist of a number of plant species and animals, and are important to those whose lifestyle depends on farming and hunting.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated, and the ingredient is included many national or ethnic specialities.
Parakari is a fermented alcoholic beverage made by Amerindians of Guyana and Venezuela. Like other cassava alcoholic beverages, parakari is made by dual fermenting cassava, which involves the use of an amylolytic mold by chewing it.
Couac, also called kwak in Guianese Creole and farinha de mandioca in Portuguese, is flour made from cassava root, peeled, soaked in water, grated and drained to remove the poisonous cyanide it contains. Cassava roots are sold in markets as the kramangnok for sweet varieties, and processed under the kwak names; kasav, cassava, sispa, tapioca or crabio for bitter varieties. Couac is widely eaten by the inhabitants of Brazil and the Guianas.
Garlic sauce is a sauce prepared using garlic as a primary ingredient. It is typically a pungent sauce, with the depth of garlic flavor determined by the amount of garlic used. The garlic is typically crushed or finely diced. Simple garlic sauce is composed of garlic and another ingredient to suspend the bulb via emulsion, such as oil, butter or mayonnaise. Various additional ingredients can be used to prepare the soup.