Cooking of cassava root tissues causes both physical and chemical modifications and the final texture of the product is important for the acceptability and consumption of the food. Cooking tissue samples at 80° and in boiling water from two cultivars, harvested 12 and 25 months after planting date, was accompanied by determinig weight gain and starch gelatinization of the samples. Starch gelatinization was determined by colorimetry with iodine after solubilization in alkali of samples cooked for different period of times. At 80°C neither hydration or gelatinization were complete, which occurred at in boiling water. Hydration was different between cultivars and harvesting ages and could be described by a zero order mathematical model. Samples harvested 12 months after planting date hydrated faster than the ones harvested after 25 months and IAPAR-19 Pioneira hydrated faster than Catarina Amarela. The faster the rate of hydration the faster the samples cooked and higher the final cooked weight.
cassava; Manihot esculenta C.; cooking time; gelatinization
