Cassava is also known as yuca, a root vegetable native to South America. This is our preferred gluten-free, grain-free flour suitable for paleo and autoimmune protocol diets. In our opinion, cassava flour is as close as you can get to a grain-free alternative to wheat flour, and it is delicious. Baked goods can truly can be indistinguishable from their wheat-based counterparts.
Cassava must be cooked or soaked to neutralize antinutrients, particularly cyanogenic glycosides and phytic acid. Thankfully, our favorite brand of cassava flour, Otto’s, prepares their flour so that these anti-nutrients are neutralized.
It is also worth mentioning that properly prepared cassava is a good source of resistant starch, which has numerous health benefits. Resistant starch is a prebiotic fiber that feeds the microbes within the colon and is important for intestinal microbial balance and function.
One last tip, when measuring cassava flour for recipes, fluff it with a fork first, then scoop and level the flour to ensure accurate measuring. If using cassava flour in substitution for wheat flour, it measures cup for cup if it is very well sifted.
In celebration of Otto’s generous discount for our readers, we thought we would share a recipe that has been adapted from Dr. Ashley’s book, Restorative Kitchen along with a discount on Otto’s cassava flour (use code restorativekicthen10). This recipe highlights peaches and blueberries that are abundant this time of year. This crumble is highly adaptable to fit with the bounty of the season. In this version, I’ve used fresh summer peaches and blueberries. My youngest daughter affectionately calls this “peachy pie”. Thankfully, it is much simpler to prepare than pie.
Crumble
¼ cup cassava flour
¼ cup tigernut flour
1 cup sliced tigernuts
¼ cup monkfruit sweetener
¼ teaspoon unrefined salt
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut oil or palm shortening
Filling
2 cups peaches, sliced
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons cassava flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
generous pinch lemon zest
¼ teaspoon unrefined salt
2 tablespoons monk fruit sweetener
Preheat the oven to 350°F. For the crumble, pulse together the cassava flour, tigernut flour, sliced tigernuts, monk fruit, and salt in a food processor. Pulse in the coconut oil or palm shortening until mixture is combined and set aside. In a mixing bowl, place the peaches, blueberries, cassava, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and monk fruit. Gently stir until the fruit is coated with cassava mixture. Place in the bottom of a pie dish. Cover with the crumble topping. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until fruit is melted and bubbling. Serve with coconut whipped cream or ice cream. Serves 6-8.
