Cassava. Manioc. Yuca. Fleshy, starchy tubers with tough brown skin and crisp white flesh, originally from Brazil but now widely cultivated. There are two types, sweet and bitter. Avoid the bitter one. Throughout the Amazon basin there are 26 varieties, each thriving under different conditions. The process of making it into flour or tapioca removes the toxins.
Banana leaf. The large leaf of the banana plant. They are sufficiently pliable for use as a wrapping for foods that are to be baked or steamed or used as plates and are used throughout Central and South America and in South East Asia. If you are using them, cut out the stiff central spine and then soak them for a while in boiling water.
Sapodilla. A fruit which can be round or oval. Its thin skin is slightly rough and the flesh is dull, beige to terra cotta in colour and slightly granular with flat black seeds. Peel the skin away to reveal the apricot-coloured, honey-flavoured flesh. If it is eaten slightly under-ripe it may leave a residue of gum in the mouth. This can be dispelled by eating something fatty or wiping the lips with butter. One variety provides the gum for chewing gum.
A pungent, salty fish sauce made from small salted shrimps called alamang or small fish, fermented in a closed jar for several weeks. It is used as a condiment and for flavouring dishes and is sold in bottles or tins. Throughout South-East Asia this goes by many names: bagoong in the Philippines, trassi in Indonesia, blachan in Indonesia and Malaysia, kapi in Thailand, mam tom in Viet Nam and so on.
"Tree jellyfish". Cloud ear fungus that grows on dead wood, available fresh or dried. If fresh they have a bland flavour but take up the flavour of the foods with which they are cooked. They should not be fried as they explode, but should be stewed for at least an hour. If dried they are black and are broken into small pieces. They swell hugely when soaked. Dried mushrooms may also be ground to a powder, in which form it may be used to flavour soups and stocks.
Bael fruit; a close relative of the citrus. The fruit is about the size of, and has the appearance of a greyish-yellow orange with a thin woody rind. The floury pulp is pale orange in colour and has numerous seeds. Dried slices are soaked and boiled and the resulting liquid sweetened and drunk. Used for medicinal purposes.
