Slow-Cooked Pork Stew - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 lbs lean pork loin, cut into 1 inch cubes
8 ounces baby carrots
3 large new potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 parsnips, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 leeks, thoroughly washed and sliced into 1 inch strips
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 (8 ounce) packet frozen spinach, thawed and well-drained
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt, to taste
1 pint vegetable juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard
4 teaspoons tapioca

Preparation

Place the pork in a crock pot, and add the carrots, potatoes, parsnips, onions, leeks, garlic, spinach, pepper, thyme and salt.
In a medium bowl, combine the vegetable juice, brown sugar, mustard and tapioca.
Pour it over the pork and vegetables.
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours.
Note accompanying the original recipe: This recipe can also be cooked in a large casserole dish. Cover tightly and bake at 135\u00b0C/275\u00b0F/gas 1 for 5 hours without disturbing.
My Note: When I first came across this recipe, the reference to tapioca made me more than a little dubious. It sounded just a bit too nineteenth century, somehow smacking of grim British boarding school meals. Or something like that. Tapioca was an ingredient I had NEVER used, so I checked it out on the internet and learnt courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica, that it (tapioca) was probably first harvested by the Mayans. And the sheer mystique of THAT connection was enough for me to give the recipe a try. I still haven't used tapioca in any other way, but I'm glad to have found this recipe. Tapioca and all!