Does anyone know what 'suruí flour' is?
I am just writing an entry for my blog http://www.whatamieating.com describing a Brazilian stew called pachicá, which contains somethingsI have never heard of - 'suruí flour' (called 'water flour' by the local indigenous people, who are themselves called 'suruí'). This presumably means that it is *the* flour that they produce. Does anyone know if this is made from, say, the root of an Amazon plant?
Hope someone can help.
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5 Comments:
What you are describing sounds like Manioc Flour.
If you've had Yuca (as it is know in cuban cuisine) or eaten tapioca, then you've had Manioc.
It goes by a number of names and has many ingenious uses. It is an indigenous tuber crop from the Americas. One use is as a thickener.
2qrs at 8:41AM on 07/28/08
Thanks 2qrs - I appreciate that. Do you know why 'water flour' is a common name for it?
Foodlexi at 9:17AM on 07/28/08
I don't know....but a logical guess may be that the name is related to how it is made.
Because bitter manioc is toxic, the tubers need to be reduced to a pulp, washed & pressed to push out the toxins. It is then dried & the resulting foodstuff is a flour.
I'm reading "America's First Cuisines" by Sophie D. Coe. A fascinating history & anthropological study of foodstuffs that originated in the Americas. There are 4 pages or so on Manioc...which outlines the process used to remove the toxins.....and leeching them out with water could....I suppose....lead to calling it "water flour"....
I am going to see if any of my SoAmer. contacts have a better (and factual....as I'm guessing...LOL) answer.
2qrs at 10:24AM on 07/28/08
I don't know but "suruí flower" sounds like something that a celebrity would name their child.
("Surui" reminds me of the Holmes-Cruise child.)
CanadianFoodieGirl at 12:19PM on 07/28/08
Many thanks 2qrs. That's *really* helpful. I will add this, if I may, to my entries for manioc flour generally, but I will keep an eye on the thread to see if you come up with anything else.
Surui Flower - There are certainly worse names, like the family who named their *daughter* after all the members of the English football team - I bet she has grown up into a balanced, family-oriented sort of person. Though this maligns her. She may really have done so!
Foodlexi at 6:24AM on 07/30/08