You may be familiar with tapioca only as a pudding, but it actually has other uses.  I learned about tapioca when I was doing a lot of crockpot cooking one winter.  Several recipes I came across called for using “quick tapioca” to thicken the gravy in the crockpot dish.  It worked so well that I now use it more often than I use cornstarch or flour.

If you’re not familiar with tapioca, it’s not surprising.  Tapioca is one of those things I remember vaguely as a child at my grandparent’s house.  Tapioca was sort of a staple back in the old days, but has since disappeared for some reason.  I never quite got used to the tapioca pudding Grandma made because of the “bubbly” texture, some would say like fish eggs.  Well, that’s enough to turn off a little kid, but my Grandpa sure loved it!

Aside from using tapioca to thicken meat gravy, I have a little recipe that uses tapioca in a dessert-like soup.  This is a fun recipe to surprise your kids with.  When you yell “Soup’s on!” they won’t be expecting this soup at all!  Here is my Mixed-Up Fruit Soup:

Mix and stir over medium heat, 2 tablespoons quick tapioca in 1 and 1/2 cups of water, until thickened.  Take off the burner.  Add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate that’s been thawed, stir together well and heat through.  Put about 2 to 3 cups fruit in a bowl and pour mixture over the top.  Use whatever fruit you have in season, like strawberries, blueberries, or even some pitted cherries and yellow raisins.  You can serve this while it’s still warm, or serve it cold.

Tapioca is something that’s been forgotten, but shouldn’t be.  If you’ve been using tapioca all these years, or you’ve just discovered it, I’d love to hear your stories.