Mandy Jackson asked if tapioca was okay on this list. I hope so; it's a
favorite pudding of mine. Tapioca is composed primarily of starch from
the tuber of the cassava or manioc plant. In the home, the starch is
pushed through small holes in a colander to produce what Waverly Root
calls the "familiar small, white, gelatinous, semi-translucent balls of
tapioca". In commercial operations, I believe that the cassava/manioc
starch was kneaded, dried, and then slowly heated on a metal surface
until it beaded into tapioca. There's probably some new sophisticated
technique used to make the quick-cooking tapioca that is available in
U.S. markets today.
Peter
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