Tapioca Melon Soup

This smooth and delicate cool soup, with the combination of tiny pearls of tapioca and small balls of fresh melon, is delightful on a warm day. I prefer it cool from the refrigerator. The tapioca “pearls,” as they are called, are fashioned from the residue of the root of the cassava plant after it has been cooked to remove acids. They expand when cooked in liquid and do indeed resemble translucent pearls.