Craig Hollenbeck, age 8, of Cottage Grove, Minn., for his question:

WHAT IS TAPIOCA?

Tapioca is best known as a delicious pudding that can be bought in various flavors already mixed or made at home with milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Tapioca is a popular food starch used in making puddings, soups and other foods. It is taken from the root of the bitter cassava plant, grown chiefly in Brazil, Java and the Malay Peninsula. The root cluster of a single cassava plant can yield up to 10 pounds of starch. But first the roots must be washed to remove an extremely toxic acid called prussic acid, or hydrocyanic acid.

The roots are then reduced to a pulp and this mass isstrained until all the moist, starchy particles are separated from the root fibers and set on hot iron plates to dry. While drying, the grains form the small, uneven, milky white balls unknown as pearl tapioca.

There is a fine form, though, which does not require soaking before cooking. This is called quick cooking tapioca. When tapioca is cooked it swells and thickens the liquid in which it is cooked. Tapioca pudding is a healthful food and easily digested, Many baby foods contain tapioca, and as a dessert it is a favorite with infants, children and grown ups alike.