Friday PM, November 1, 2019, Santarem, Brazil

- November 06, 2019

Panoramic Santarém

We explored local history and culture in Santarém, a major port defined by the Amazon tributaries that wind through it. We saw the confluence of rivers where the clean, clear Rio Tapajós meets the muddy Amazon. In the busy downtown area we saw the Nova Orla Fluvial promenade in the redeveloped port area, visited the city's cathedral, and saw the Town Hall Museum with its displays of ancient ceramics from the region. We continued our tour to Casa da Farinha, an old cassava flour mill where local people once produced flour using traditional rustic methods. Now an agricultural farm, it is home to native trees of the region; we witnessed how latex is extracted from rubber trees during a demonstration.

On our way to Casa da Farinha, an old cassava flour mill, about an hour bus ride from our cruise ship. These 3,000 homes are government subsidized; rent is $10 per month.

A house under construction. Will be very modern compared to many home structures.

Casa da Farinha. We saw demonstrations at 4 or 5 separate locations.

The outer surface of the softball sized Brazil nut hull must be cut off by saw or machete to extract the individual nut pods. Hulls are similar to coconuts but not quite as large or thick.

Once Brazil pods are removed from the husk, they cannot all be fit back in.

Polished Brazil pods and rubber tree seeds are made into beautiful jewelry.

Polished Brazil nut husks.

Tropical fruit samples; mmm...............

Little girl dancing with her pet bird.

Milk extraction demonstration from rubber tree.

Tall rubber tree.

Rubber tree seeds.

Cassava root bulbs (similar to potatoes).

Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, is a woody shrub native to South America of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. Though it is often called yuca in Spanish America and in the United States, it is not related to yucca, a shrub in the family Asparagaceae. Cassava is predom-inantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are used to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and indust-rial 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 (and roasting in the case of farinha).

Cassava is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and maize. Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, provid-ing a basic diet for over half a billion people. It is one of the most drought-tol-erant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava, while Thailand is the largest exporter of cassava starch.

Cassava is classified as either sweet or bitter. Like other roots and tubers, both bitter and sweet varieties of cassava contain antinutritional factors and toxins, with the bitter varieties containing much larger amounts. It must be properly prepared before consumption, as improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication, goiters, and even ataxia, partial paralysis, or death. The more toxic varieties of cassava are a fall-back resource (a "food security crop") in times of famine or food insecurity in some places. Farmers often prefer the bitter varieties because they deter pests, animals, and thieves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava

Power source to shred cassava roots.

Root grinder.

Scooping ground root for placing in "Dryer."

Packing wet shredded root into "dryer." The dryer is woven out palm-like fronds, stretching to about six feet long and six inches in diameter. The dryer is shortened by pushing the ends close together for loading the shredded root into it.

Once filled, one end of the dryer is hung about eight feet high. The other end has a board put through the other end; the board is pushed downward, shrinking the diameter of the dryer and squeezing the liquid out of the pulp.

The liquid is caught in a pan to be used for cooking, etc. later.

The dried pulp is then broken into smaller chunks and run through a screened sieve. The sieved granules are placed on a hot stove to "burn off" the residual cyanide.