Maniçoba in Brazil 2025
A poison if cooked not properly, it is also a popular festive dish in Brazil
Best time: October
Maniçoba is most popular in the state of Pará in Brazil, where it is usually eaten in October during Círio de Nazaré, a huge religious festival. It is made from leaves of the cassava or manioca plant that are cooked for a week. This part of the cooking process is absolutely necessary because of the hydrogen cyanide contained in 'maniva', the leaves of the plant. Boiling them helps to remove the poisonous substance and prepare the main ingredient of the dish.
Such a long process of preparation makes cooking small quantities of Maniçoba pointless, it's usually cooked in large portions and consumed during public celebrations and festivals.
Aside from huge quantities of cassava leaves, cooking Maniçoba requires some other ingredients. A lot of meat to be precise. Salted pork, dried meat, smoked ingredients, such as bacon and different kinds of sausages, and, finally, you can add a pig's tail, pig's tongue, pig's ears, pig's feet and a little lard.
