Tapioca, also known as Pearl of Japan is a starch, used in cooking, produced from the roots of bitter cassava (non-consumable untreated) dried and processed. The taste is neutral. It is used especially as a thickener for soups and desserts.

Tapioca pearls are used in China in the manufacture of flat sweet / savory for breakfast (as a thick soup). Sometimes added dyes for marketing purposes.

In Taiwan, there is milk tea with tapioca pearls hot drink or cold drink, with beads of different sizes, and teas. See Tea pearls.

In Thailand, a company uses tapioca to produce biodegradable plates. Tapioca is also a lubricator for engines of vehicles form Thailand redissolved.

Some resemblance to the sago has given it the name of sago sometimes white. Tapioca is odorless and enjoys all the chemical properties of other starches. For cooking, it forms a kind of jelly or paste that offers a particular character of transparency and viscosity. Made into soups, jellies similar to those which are prepared with sago. arrow root, etc..