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Is Cassava flour expensive in the countries where it is grown? In Western Europe and Australia, it seems to be priced at approximately $9 AUD / €6 per kilogram

Is Cassava flour expensive in the countries where it is grown? In Western Europe and Australia, it seems to be priced at approximately $9 AUD / €6 per kilogram of flour and only available from selected specialty retailers or health food stores. Given it is such an important staple for 700 million people worldwide, made me wonder whether its 'uniqueness' attracts a significant cost addition. Or maybe the flour is (relatively) expensive, and not the tubers or edible parts of the plant?

jamesrcole 8y ago
> In ... Australia ... only available from selected specialty retailers or health food stores. It can be found in the major supermarkets https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/everything/search/Tapioca https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/every... https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTerm=Tapioca https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTer...
- phyzome 8y ago
  It's probably a lot cheaper when called "tapioca" than when called "cassava", at least in North America. :-P
  - Pfhreak 8y ago
    Except "tapioca" in NA can also mean "sago", which is a totally different plant.
    - phyzome 8y ago
      Interesting, good to know! I don't think I've encountered that before.
  - adrian_mrd 8y ago
    I am confused by the difference between Tapioca and Cassava. The article doesn’t make this clear... and yeah, I can Wikipedia it ;)
    - phyzome 8y ago
      As far as I can tell it's just a different common name.
- adrian_mrd 8y ago
  Sort of. Of the links you provided only one of them - at Coles New World! - is for Cassava* Flour: https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/product/bobs-red-mill-whole-tapioca-flour https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/produ... and online. I’ve never seen it at my local Coles or Woolies (or Aldis, or Foodland, or IGA, etc) The others are Tapioca starch or other products- not the same as flour. * and even then it is called Tapioca Flour so may not be the same thing as Cassava Flour. It is some times difficult to distinguish between Tapioca (starch-heavy?) and Cassava (starch-moderate?)
  - markdown 8y ago
    Why are the products labelled Tapioca Flour and Cassava Flour different? It's the same tuber from the same plant, isn't it?
    - Anarch157a 8y ago
      Here in Brazil, we have two kinds of flour from manioc, a very coarse one used in Farofa and in a taco-shell like crunchy thing we call Tapioca, the other is a super thin one called Polvilho, used in biscuits and cheese bread. maybe they're related to the ones you know.
      - adrian_mrd 8y ago
        Thanks, I think the one commonly labelled Cassava Flour (at least in Australia) is the Povilho variety. Maybe the Tapioca vs Povilho difference refers to the bitter vs sweet varieties of the Cassava plant?
  - jamesrcole 8y ago
    You missed the "arrowroot" flour, which is actually tapioca flour https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/226010/mc-kenzie-s-arrowroot-tapioca-flour https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/226010/mc-... There seems to be a bit of disagreement out there but most of the things I've read say the flour and starch are the same thing.
bfred_it 8y ago
Some things may be cheap and common in a place, but an exotic delicacy in others, so the market adjusts.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  Often it's "ethnic" foods that are expensive, but there's an interesting inverse with chicken feet. In the west, you can get Chicken feet for just about free, I think they're like $2 per kg at my supermarket. In China though, they're a delicacy and quite expensive.
mahesh_rm 8y ago
It is amongst the cheapest edible things you can find here in Colombia, and assume across all South America, but then again, price of agricultural goods here is more or less close to zero if compared to price of them same goods when imported in North America / Europe / Australia.
- adrian_mrd 8y ago
  Interesting. Is it easy to purchase Cassava Flour? (as opposed to the root vegetable or other Cassava products like Tapioca pearls).
  - Anarch157a 8y ago
    Here in Brazil you can fill a shopping cart with the stuff in ant Carrefour. For restaurants, specially the ones that serve feijoada or barbecue*, is not hard to find it in 50kg sacs. Manioc flour is the main ingredient in farofa, an essential side dish for both feijoada and bbq.
    - htmk 8y ago
      And it's delicious in all sorts of dishes.
epx 8y ago
Here in Brazil it is very cheap, because it grows everywhere. Used to plant in the backyard when I was a child.

jamesrcole 8y ago

> In ... Australia ... only available from selected specialty retailers or health food stores. It can be found in the major supermarkets https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/everything/search/Tapioca https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/every... https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTerm=Tapioca https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTer...

phyzome 8y ago
It's probably a lot cheaper when called "tapioca" than when called "cassava", at least in North America. :-P
- Pfhreak 8y ago
  Except "tapioca" in NA can also mean "sago", which is a totally different plant.
  - phyzome 8y ago
    Interesting, good to know! I don't think I've encountered that before.
- adrian_mrd 8y ago
  I am confused by the difference between Tapioca and Cassava. The article doesn’t make this clear... and yeah, I can Wikipedia it ;)
  - phyzome 8y ago
    As far as I can tell it's just a different common name.
adrian_mrd 8y ago
Sort of. Of the links you provided only one of them - at Coles New World! - is for Cassava* Flour: https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/product/bobs-red-mill-whole-tapioca-flour https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-aitke/produ... and online. I’ve never seen it at my local Coles or Woolies (or Aldis, or Foodland, or IGA, etc) The others are Tapioca starch or other products- not the same as flour. * and even then it is called Tapioca Flour so may not be the same thing as Cassava Flour. It is some times difficult to distinguish between Tapioca (starch-heavy?) and Cassava (starch-moderate?)
- markdown 8y ago
  Why are the products labelled Tapioca Flour and Cassava Flour different? It's the same tuber from the same plant, isn't it?
  - Anarch157a 8y ago
    Here in Brazil, we have two kinds of flour from manioc, a very coarse one used in Farofa and in a taco-shell like crunchy thing we call Tapioca, the other is a super thin one called Polvilho, used in biscuits and cheese bread. maybe they're related to the ones you know.
    - adrian_mrd 8y ago
      Thanks, I think the one commonly labelled Cassava Flour (at least in Australia) is the Povilho variety. Maybe the Tapioca vs Povilho difference refers to the bitter vs sweet varieties of the Cassava plant?
- jamesrcole 8y ago
  You missed the "arrowroot" flour, which is actually tapioca flour https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/226010/mc-kenzie-s-arrowroot-tapioca-flour https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/226010/mc-... There seems to be a bit of disagreement out there but most of the things I've read say the flour and starch are the same thing.

bfred_it 8y ago

Some things may be cheap and common in a place, but an exotic delicacy in others, so the market adjusts.

toomanybeersies 8y ago
Often it's "ethnic" foods that are expensive, but there's an interesting inverse with chicken feet. In the west, you can get Chicken feet for just about free, I think they're like $2 per kg at my supermarket. In China though, they're a delicacy and quite expensive.

mahesh_rm 8y ago

It is amongst the cheapest edible things you can find here in Colombia, and assume across all South America, but then again, price of agricultural goods here is more or less close to zero if compared to price of them same goods when imported in North America / Europe / Australia.

adrian_mrd 8y ago
Interesting. Is it easy to purchase Cassava Flour? (as opposed to the root vegetable or other Cassava products like Tapioca pearls).
- Anarch157a 8y ago
  Here in Brazil you can fill a shopping cart with the stuff in ant Carrefour. For restaurants, specially the ones that serve feijoada or barbecue*, is not hard to find it in 50kg sacs. Manioc flour is the main ingredient in farofa, an essential side dish for both feijoada and bbq.
  - htmk 8y ago
    And it's delicious in all sorts of dishes.

epx 8y ago

Here in Brazil it is very cheap, because it grows everywhere. Used to plant in the backyard when I was a child.