8.Cassava Root
Cassava roots and leaves are dangerously rich in cyanide.
At this point you are probably wondering why people are still eating it right? So are we!
Originally from South America, the plant grew popular in Africa,especially for its juice,which can be fermented producing a drink called piwarry.
William Rhind, a 19th century geologist and one of the first Europeans to find the root, observes:
“When it is considered that this plant belongs to a highly-poisonous tribe, and it is itself one of the most virulent of species, it cannot but excite astonishment to find that it yet yields an abundant poison which, by the art of man, becomes not only perfectly innocent, but highly nutritious, yielding nourishment to many thousands of the natives of South America, and affording a luxury to the tables of more refined Europeans.”
