#mandioca

Mulher xinguana espremendo a massa da mandioca, com pequena esteira

fonte:

Imagine uma técnica agrícola que quintuplica a produtividade da mandioca, aumenta em 50% a produção de arroz e milho na mesma área, sem fogo ou desmatamento, e ainda melhora a vida de famílias rurais. Essa é a Roça Sustentável (Criaf), uma metodologia inovadora que está transformando a agricultura familiar na região do Matopiba, formada por Tocantins e partes do Maranhão, Piauí e Bahia. O que é a…

I saw a really helpful post going around about poisonous herbs that should be avoided by witches, and any other person really. I would like to give my insight.

I looked up some of the herbs mentioned by the post on Wikipedia, and discovered that a good portion of them are used by certain cultures, be it in jewelry, food or medicine. What happens is that people process the seeds/roots/leaves/fruits/flowers until the toxins are rendered innocuous.

Now, I'm not trying to invalidate the poisonous herbs post: It really is an important PSA to witches, and I will keep the hell away from those herbs! What I am adding here is a cultural point view. Remember that there are people around the world who know their way around poisonous plants.

While reading the Tumblr post, I was eating fried yuca/cassava (mandioca/macaxeira) - Manihot esculenta - and remembered an interesting fact about this plant that is so important to Latin American countries like mine. Certain Yuca species can be extremely poisonous.

Yet, here I am, eating this tuberous root. How is that possible?

Cassava contains linamarin and lotaustralin, that releases hydrocyanic acid with hydrolysis. The amount of those toxins varies from specimen to specimen, depending on the conditions of the environment they were planted on. "Mandioca brava" is how we call the most toxic type in my language, a bitter root high on cyanide. DON'T EVER ATTEMPT TO EAT RAW OR POORLY COOKED CASSAVA. Cyanide can be lethal in just a couple of hours. In long term, poorly cooked cassava can cause pancreatic diseases.

This plant is dangerous especially if it was harvested from a dry and hot place. A classic book from Brazilian literature, "Vidas Secas", portrays the death of one of the characters after he eats a raw root of yuca out of starvation.

To safely eat yuca, it must be cooked properly. For example "Maniçoba", which is a traditional indigenous dish, is prepared with the leaves of Manihot pseudoglaziovii, a resilient type of yuca that's also extremely toxic. To become edible, the leaves must be grounded and left to cook for one whole week.

Now you must be asking, why do people use such toxic herbs on their lives, even though they know they are dangerous?

I can't speak for every case, but at least here in Brazil, that's the only thing we had avaiable in the past, and now it's ingrained in our culture.

Yuca has always been a crucial element of indigenous people's diet. After europeans invaded South America, they realized that many of the herbs they were used to eating didn't thrive in the hot tropical weather of this part of the world. The solution was to adopt the native plants in their own diet. Yuca became flour, cake, soup, tapioca...

The most toxic type, Maniçoba, that requires an impressive 1 week of cooking to become edible, was the only alternative available to slaves, during the colony. Beans were expensive, only rich slave owners were able to afford them.

With the leftover meat that farmers discarded (swine ears, nose, tail, etc) and abundant, but toxic, Maniçoba, slaves prepared this traditional and nutritional dish, without which they would probably starve and become sick.

Maniçoba became part of Brazilian's culinary and is still a crucial source of nutrition to many people living in the North of the country.

Cassava, just like other toxic herbs, have a lot of potential IF DEALED WITH RIGHT. This is not a "hey, it's ok to pick toxic herbs" post. This is just a small insight in how some cultures deal with them.

And, from the point of view of a witch, I find fascinating how a herb can either kill you or save you, the only changing factor being the knowledge of the person manipulating it.

That being said, research research and research before collecting any herbs! And by researching I mean researching on real botany books/articles written by actual scientists instead of witchcraft or Wicca guides.

But also learn about the traditions surrounding your local poisonous plants. How and why did people used that in the past? And now, do those poisonous herbs have any scientific value to researchers? Knowing the safe components or products originated from them can be useful to your craft.