Pao de queijo (cheese bread) are small rolls with crunchy exteriors and uniquely chewy, stretchy centers. Instead of using flour like most baked goods, they use a surprise ingredient: tapioca starch.

Oh, no. I stare at my bowl. “Eat your tapioca!” This is grandma, standing over the table, back in the day. The treat we kids always dreaded: tapioca pudding that looked like frog spawn. It all comes ...

Taopica is a starch sold as flour, flakes, or pearls that’s low in nutritional value. People may use it as a gluten-free wheat alternative. Tapioca is a starch extracted from cassava root. It consists ...