Manioc leaves in Chicago

Hi, gang

Do any of you know where I could buy cassava/manioc leaves in Chicago? I'm trying to plan a Malagasy menu for the end of the month (viewtopic.php?f=14&t=27786) and one of their national dishes, ravitoto, includes ground manioc leaves.

Several of the African restaurants have this ingredient on their menus, so I assume it must be available locally; I just don't know where to go.

Old World Market has a large selection of frozen leaves, almost certainly including cassava/manioc. Pretty sure I've seen them at La Fruteria too. I'm not sure about canned (never looked) and I never noticed fresh ones (not sure I'd recognize them). These two stores are the largest African markets in Chicago that I'm aware of. You'll probably want to poke around in both before the dinner (which sounds really interesting, by the way).

Old World Market
5129 N Broadway (at Winona)
Chicago
773-989-4440

La Fruteria
8909 S Commercial Av (3000 E)
Chicago
773-768-4969

Cool. I will check them out.

Thanks!

Manioc/cassava is also known as yuca or tapioca, so depending on the store, you might find them under these names. (Yuca more likely in Mexican and some South American stores, tapioca more common in Asian stores.)

You may want to check in at Brazil Legal on Western Avenue. They use manioc flour for the farofa in their weekend preparation of feijoada. They may have a local source for the leaves.

In my recent search for a new kaffir lime leave supplier, I discovered cassava leaves at both Golden Pacific and Broadway Supermarket. Indeed, GP had a nice selection of frozen stuffs and the B'way Supermarket had a very large, extensive collection of frozen leaves of quite an array of things.

Golden Pacific
5353 N Broadway Street
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 334-6688

Broadway Supermarket
4879 N Broadway St
(between Ainslie St & Gunnison St)
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 334-3838