Preparing Kassave on a Giant Skillet
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net
While at the Foire de Paris last week, I stopped by a stand operated by a company called Kassaverie Saveurs. It appeared that the cook there was preparing crêpes, that paper-thin pancake that the French are so good at making. It turned out, though, that she was making kassaves (also spelled cassave), a pancake made from manioc flour. Manioc is a starchy, tuberous root that has to be ground and then soaked before it can be eaten. The finished product is a flour that looks like grated coconut.
When I requested a chocolate-flavored kassave, the cook spread a heap of manioc flour on a large skillet and then added globs of chocolate to the heap. After a while, she covered the confection with another helping of flour and then flipped it like a pancake. When the pancake displayed a light-brown toasted color on both sides, it was done!
A Slice of Kassave au Chocolat
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net
I took the kassave home, where I tasted it at room temperature, rather than warming it in the oven. Its texture was dry, grainy, spongy, and chewy, similar to the texture of day-old, whole-grain bread. The manioc flour tasted slightly sour, but otherwise did not have remarkable flavor. The part of the pancake that contained chocolate, though, tasted somewhat like a Hostess Sno Ball. My lasting impression of this confection was that eating it was similar to eating a chocolate sandwich that had been prepared with two slices of dry whole-grain bread.
A video (in French) on manioc production in Guadeloupe can be viewed here.
Kassaverie Saveurs is located in Guadeloupe.
Kassaverie Saveurs
3, Allée des Hibiscus
Cité des Sources
97130 Capesterre Belle Eau
France
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