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Alcoholic drinks from Brazil, on the Xingu River

Caxiri (Juruna/Yudjá cassava beer)caxiri

Caxiri is the beer of the Juruna (Yudjá) people of Brazil, made from cassava and sweet potato. Purple cassava roots are softened in running water for two days, peeled, cut, pressed, grated and roasted into a flour, which is mixed with water and fermented in barrels for 24 to 48 hours. It is drunk for up to 120 hours after making, and one study measured 83.9 g/L of ethanol at the end.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks3 days – 4 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHousehold recipe with no published amounts.
Cassava rootsSoftened in running water for 2 days, then peeled, cut, pressed, grated and roasted[chacon2020]
Sweet potatoNamed as an ingredient of caxiri; the sources read do not say how it is prepared or when it goes in[santos2012][chacon2020]
WaterMixed with the roasted cassava flour in the barrels[chacon2020]
Starterspontaneous: the microbes probably come from the raw materials, the air and the utensils

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 4 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaClose-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Cassava roots soak in water until the skins loosen

Step 1 of 5
Soften the cassava roots in running water
Time
2 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: softened roots.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

a review says lactic bacteria soften the roots and that the soak degrades the cyanogenic compounds

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Caxiri is the beer of the Juruna (Yudjá) people of Brazil, made from cassava and sweet potato. Purple cassava roots are softened in running water for two days, peeled, cut, pressed, grated and roasted into a flour, which is mixed with water and fermented in barrels for 24 to 48 hours. It is drunk for up to 120 hours after making, and one study measured 83.9 g/L of ethanol at the end. Made in 5 steps over 3 days – 4 days. The longest step, soften the cassava roots in running water, takes 2 days (Chacón Mayorga G.A 2020). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactic bacteria, Pediococcus acidilactici (isolated); lactic acid is the main acid do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 daysReported[chacon2020]Soften the cassava roots in running water
AciditypH 4.8 → 3.15Measured[santos2012]Ferment in barrels

What makes this one different

Caxiri is not chewed; the cassava is soaked, peeled, cut, pressed, grated and roasted into flour first, and sweet potato is one of its ingredients. Its ethanol content was high in one study.

Related ferments

Safety

Cassava contains cyanogenic compounds that can cause vomiting, collapse and in some cases death. A review says the two-day soak in running water degrades them, but no study we read measures cyanide in caxiri. FAO says linamarin, the main one, is not changed by boiling, that simple boiling of fresh roots is not always reliable, that a four-hour soak is ineffective and that an 18 to 24 hour soak can cut cyanide by half. So do not shorten the soak, and do not take heat or the soak alone as proof the beer is safe. Bacillus cereus group bacteria were among the isolates.

Hazards the sources name: Bacillus cereus group (among the Bacillus isolated).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Caxiri is linked to sacred rituals and is prepared for parties and for collective work such as cutting down trees or cultivating fields.

  1. [santos2012] Santos C.C., Almeida E.G., Melo G.V., Schwan R.F. 2012, Microbiological and physicochemical characterisation of caxiri, an alcoholic beverage produced by the indigenous Juruna people of Brazil, Int. J. Food Microbiol. 156:112–121 (abstract)paper
  2. [chacon2020] Chacón Mayorga G.A., Arias Palma G.B., Sandoval-Cañas G., Ordóñez-Araque R. 2020, Ancestral fermented indigenous beverages from South America made from cassava (Manihot esculenta), Food Sci. Technol. (Campinas)paper
  3. [pib-yudja] Povos Indígenas no Brasil (Instituto Socioambiental), Yudjá (Juruna), English editionweb
  4. [fao1990] FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)gov