How Garri ( cassava flour) is made from cassava tubers

Garri is one of the most widely eaten food in Nigeria. Close to 70% of Nigerians depend heavily on this staple food. Garri is made from cassava tubers that have undergone different processing method.

It can be soaked in water and taken like a snack sometimes combined with groudnut,coconut, milk,a few but to mention. It can also be eaten together with soup when made into a dough called eba.  Well, one can however not really estimate the number of lives garri has saved from languishing.


Today, we are going to look at how to make garri from start to finish. Like I earlier wrote, garri is made from cassava tubers. Cassava is a root plant like yam. They are different species of cassava and each specie has its own duration. Some 6 months, some 9 months, some 1 year etc.

Materials
Cutlass, bags, knives, Wheel barrow, water, basin, filter,Firewood, spatula

Procedure:

Harvesting

Cut the stems of the cassava leaving about 1.5 feet of the stem.
Pull the stem gently to uproot the cassava tuber
Use the cutlass to cut the tuber away from the stem.
Repeat the above process  until you get the number of tubers you want
Gather all of them to one place
Peel the back of the cassava away then put the peeled cassava tubers into a basin containing water
When the  the basin is full wash immediately especially for those cassavas harvested from red soil
Pack the washed cassava tubers into a bag or sack and tie the mouth using a rope or cassava stick
Put the bag containing the cassava tubers into a wheel barrow  and take it to a garri factory

Grinding/Fermentation

In the garri factory, these tubers will be grinded
After grinding pack them into a sack if it is white colour garri you want but, if you want yellow garri, get palm oil and mix homogenously before turning into the bag and tie it very well and allow to ferment for at least three days or more
The liquid in the fermented grinded cassava will be removed using pressure of an engine after  three days by the factory staff.

Filtering

Get a big basin, and a filter. Place the filter on top of  the basin. The edges of the basin should match the edges of the filter to prevent it from shaking while filtering.
Remove chunks of cassava flour from the bag and place on the fillter. Break these chunks into smaller chunks and then press them gently on the filter. your  hands should move forward and  backward rubbing the cassava on the filter.
The finer particles (filtrate) will go through the holes of the filter while the big ones (residue) will remain on the filter.  Turn the residue into a separate container and repeat the process again until you have finished filtering the cassava.

Frying

Put sufficient firewood underneath the frying pot and set the fire by adding burning  charcoal.
When the pot is hot, use some part of the residues to start the frying process then throw them away
Now, turn the filtrate into the frying pot as you can fry. Use two spatula to turn the garri at regular intervals until it is dry. Remember to reduce the firewood when the fire is too hot.
Spread the garri on a sack for air to enter in order  to prevent it from molding into chunks
Repeat this process until you've finished frying the garri
When the garri is cool pack them into bags and keep in a cool dry place for use.