When you see the word “tapioca”, what image comes to mind? Back in England we pronounce this word ‘tappy-OAK-a’ and it doesn’t have a great reputation – for many people it brings back memories of bad school dinners:
Back in England, tapioca pudding is often compared to frogspawn. Ooh yummy!
In more recent times, these tapioca ‘pearls’ have become associated with Bubble Tea – a bit more trendy perhaps, but still quite weird and the resemblance to amphibian eggs is undeniable.
As is often the case, Brazil does things a little differently. Here we call it ‘tappy-OCK-a’ and it is a popular street food, prepared in little stalls on street corners and markets all over Brazil.
What is Tapioca?
Before we go any further we should probably take a closer look at this crazy stuff. Tapioca is starch that has been extracted from mandioca (AKA cassava, manioc, yuca, etc). Mandioca is native to Brazil, but has spread all over world and today is a hugely important international crop, providing basic sustenance to around 500 million people.
Cassava roots, also known as mandioca, manioc, yuka, bankeye and many other names. Image
Looking at those chunky looking roots, it’s hard to imagine that they are related to the weird jelly balls isn’t it? Apparently the ‘pearls’ are created by passing the moistened starch through a sieve at high pressure (who came up with that idea?). Here in Brazil tapioca is most commonly sold as a flour.
Brazilian style Tapioca
OK, enough of those weird jelly balls. The Brazilian street food that I mentioned earlier is something like a pancake or tortilla. Tapioca starch is mixed with a little water, then passed through a sieve to give a fine, slightly moist powder. The powder is then put into a small frying pan (without any oil or butter) and cooked for several minutes. Once the powder has fused into a disk, the tapioca is flipped, pancake style, cooked for a little longer and then turned out onto a plate.
This woman is making tapiocas. More of her later – she is a tapioca ninja!
This is when things start to get fun! Without any addition, tapioca would be rather a dull affair, but these things are versatile. The classic savoury filling is probably simply cheese. The classic sweet flavour (yes, of course there’s a sweet flavour – this is Brazil!) is condensed milk with grated coconut. But there are some other great combinations – ham and cheese, carne seca with catupiry (a salty cured beef with gooey creamy cheese) and many more.
So, do you want to see someone making these things? OK, here you go:
She has seven on the go at one point - impressive right? Watch the assistant adding a ton of condensed milk at the 55 second mark – did I mention that (most) Brazilians love leite condensado? Also check out the carne seca, tomatoes and cheese at 1:25 – yum!
If you’d like to get a bit of a closer look at the way to make this delicious snack, then this is a rather more instructional video. Finally, let me leave you with some close-ups of the finished product. When’s lunch?!
Classic – tapioca, a little bit of butter and then a nice generous helping of melty cheese. Image
Tapioca with carne seca (cured beef that is cooked and then shredded) and catupiry (the gooiest cheese there is). Image
Hello, I'm Tom. I am originally from England, but now live in Rio.
Find out more on the 
14 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
The Gritty Poet
15/01/2013 at 5:11 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
God I miss hard shell tacos. Someone must come up with a taquioca pronto (hard shell of course).
Btw have you ever tried to make this Tapioca recipe? It looks yummy.
tomlemes
15/01/2013 at 9:23 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Wow, that actually looks great! Those jelly balls are so weird, but I’d definitely try this!
Luciana Lage
15/01/2013 at 6:02 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Tapioca with coconut and coalho cheese is one of my favorite things in life. I eat one every day when I’m visiting my family
tomlemes
15/01/2013 at 9:25 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Mmmm, I love queijo coalho! First time I bought it in a shop I didn’t know you were supposed to grill it. Having it cold in a sandwich isn’t very good! But grilled on the beach with a sprinkling of oregano? Yum!
I haven’t had it with coconut in a tapioca though – next of my list of things to eat!
mhgonçalves
15/01/2013 at 7:04 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
HI Tom.
Na verdade a mais classica das tapiocas é a com manteiga da terra, colocada ainda quando a tapioca esta quente.
tomlemes
15/01/2013 at 9:27 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Olá MHGonçalves!
Muito obrigado por esta informação! Nunca ouvi desta coisa, manteiga de terra – é similar de manteiga da garrafa? Esta combinação parece muito autêntico – é típico de Nordeste?
mhgonçalves
16/01/2013 at 1:35 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
exato,,, mantega da terra é a mesma manteiga de garrafa,
E sim, esta combinação é tipica do centro-norte-nordeste, ou se preferir, do sertão..
Alex
15/01/2013 at 8:01 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Looks good, gotta try it sometime!
tomlemes
15/01/2013 at 9:30 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
I think you’re going to like it Alex! How are you getting along with the coxinhas? Do you know I think I overdid it with coxinhas at the start – somehow I never feel like them anymore… Hey-ho, plenty of other lanches at the lanchonette!
Andrew Francis
18/01/2013 at 12:35 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
There’s also a dessert in Brazil very similar to the British tapioca called sagu. It has some of the same properties you mentioned but at least it’s (sometimes) made with wine for flavoring. That makes it a tiny bit more interesting.
tomlemes
18/01/2013 at 12:43 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Aha! We also have that – we call it Sago. Apparently Sago and Tapioca, though very similar in terms of end product, come from completely difference sources. Tapioca from Mandioca and Sago from core of the Sago Palm!
Or do you think Sagu is actually made from tapioca and just picked up its name through some confusion back in time?
Andrew Francis
18/01/2013 at 12:54 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Good question, I had to check Wikipedia to be sure. In Brazil, “sagu” is made from tapioca pearls:
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagu
Ana Fonseca
21/01/2013 at 4:07 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Have you ever heard of vegetarian caviar ? Tapioca “pearls” soaked in Oyster sauce.
tomlemes
21/01/2013 at 4:24 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
I only heard about it after I wrote this post! Sounds like it might be rather nice (though not very much like caviar really). I’ve just been reading about fruit flavoured caviar too. Now I really want to try it!