In this page, we shall be looking at some useful
information about garri, which includes the steps involved in its production or
processing, its nutritional characteristics, and the benefits it has to human
health after been consumed. It is important to note that garri is consumed in
two different ways:
1. It
is consumed by drinking, in a preparation consisting of garri, sugar, water,
and some other ingredients like groundnut, coconut, fish, beans, milk etc.
2. It
is consumed by swallowing (product known as eba). This method involved pouring
hot water in the garri powder granules, mix it to form a paste-like or dough
structure. The product is now swallowed in combination of various kinds of
soup.
How Does The Appearance Of Garri Look Like?
Many foreigners that are not from west Africa might be
wondering how does the appearance of garri looks like and what is it all about?
Garri is a fine to coarse flower granules of different textures made from the
tubers of cassava (Manihot spp.). We
shall be looking at how garri is been produced from cassava tubers or cassava
tubers in a short while
Garri is normally classified according the sizes of it particles,
which are as follows:
·
Extra-fine:
passes through 0.25 mm to 0.5 mm aperture sieve
·
Fine:
passes through 0.5 mm to 1 mm aperture sieve
·
Coarse:
passes through 1 mm to 1.25 mm aperture sieve
·
Extra
coarse: passes through 1.25 mm to 2.0 mm aperture sieve.
Production Of Garri From Cassava
Nigeria as a country have a very good climate for the
cultivation of cassava, and as a result of the abundant supply of cassava,
garri is a well known cassava based grain that is readily available in the
Nigerian market at all times of the year. There is a funny assumption that
"if garri fails to exist in Nigeria, then a lot of people will surely go
hungry". This statement agrees with the fact that there is no average
Nigeria that does not love eating garri, either been soaked in water and drank
or being swallowed with diverse soups.
Also read: Health benefits of Nigerian local rice
A lot of concerns and worries have already been developed
because of the rate at which Nigeria exports cassava to countries like China, it
is one way or the other making the commodity to be less available or relatively
scarce.
With the fast rate of urbanization and growth in
sub-Saharan Africa, there has been an increase in demand for convenience foods
such as garri. Cassava roots serves as an ideal raw material for the production
of this convenience foods, since they are easy to process and posses great
nutritional benefits accompanied with their nice flavours.
Now let us look at the various steps involved in the
production of garri from cassava:
Step 1: Peeling and washing the cassava roots
Like we all know, the cassava roots are been harvested
from the ground, hence, they are covered with dirt and soil and some might
eventually be damaged already. Only good harvested roots are transported from
the farm to the processing factory (or just in a local neighbourhood, in the
case of traditional method of processing). When the roots arrived the
processing factory, they are peeled in order to remove the outer brown covering
and the inner layer that have a cream-like colour, leaving behind the inner
white root. The inner white root is then thoroughly washed with clean water to
remove any form of stains or dirt that is stills found on it.
Step 2: grating the cassava root into mash
The next step involves the grating of the cassava roots
into mash or pulp. The purpose of this process is to remove the cyanide content
of the cassava, thereby enabling the root to be safe to be consumed. perforated
metal sheets are been used in the traditional grating of cassava, though using
it is very slow and consumes a lot of labour and energy. Mechanized graters are
normally used in large factories that are responsible for the production of
large amount of garri for that will serve a greater population of consumers.
The mechanized grater also meets the market demands and standards.
Step 3: de-watering and fermenting mash into wet cake
Still in the process of removing the cyanide content in the
cassava mash, the de-watering and fermenting process is been employed. This
step is done traditionally by using logs or stones as weights to press the
large amount of water out of the bags containing the cassava mash. The bags are
then finally allowed to drain and ferment for some few days. The longer the
days of fermentation, the more sour the garri tastes. Just like the traditional
method of grating, this method is quite slow and time consuming, and most
especially, it is unhygienic, which makes it not suitable for a large cassava
processing business. Mechanized methods that are safer are been employed in
large factories.
The bagged cassava mash is left on the fermentation rack
for one or more days like i earlier stated before de-watering. During the end
of the fermentation process, the mash will turn into a firm, wet cake.
Step 4: sieving wet cakes into frits and roasting grits into garri
This step involves sieving the wet cakes into small
pieces know as grits, and then you roast or fry the grits in a hot frying pan
or tray to form the dry and crispy end product known as garri. Garri normally
have a white or creamy colour, but can be turned into yellow when red palm oil
is added to the cake before frying.
As far as we have gone, we have learnt the steps involved
in the production and processing of garri, now let us look at some few ways
garri can be grouped or classified based on their fermentation length and the
inclusion of red palm oil. They are classified as:
1. Red garri
This type of garri is commonly found mostly
in the mid-western part of Nigeria, it is also known "Bendel garr".
This class of garri is achieve when red pal oil is been added to the cassava
mash during the process of production. Addition of red palm oil to garri also
helps in reducing the cyanide content of the cassava and also gives the garri a
uniue flavour.
2. White garri
The white garri is achieved when you follow
all the normal steps of production without adding red palm oil to the cassava
mash before grating.
3. Ijebu garri
Ijebu is place found in the south-western
part of Nigeria, Ogun state to be particular. The name "Ijebu garri"
came to existence as a result of the style of garri production that is best
adopted by the Ijebu people in Nigeria. Ijebu garri is been processed using the
normal steps, but the distinct feature about it is that the cassava mash is
been allowed to ferment for up to seven days, which increases its sour taste
and flavour. No palm oil is been added like the Bendel garri, and it is also
fried to become much crisped. The Ijebu garri have a characteristic sharp aaste
(like most people will say in Nigeria, the taste slaps the mouth), and it is
less starchy compared to others. Anybody that is from the south-western part of
Nigeria, or those that have been residents in that are for a long time will
definitely understand the great feeling derived from drinking ijebu garri with
fried fish.
Nutritional Facts Of Garri
Garri is highly rich in starch and fibre
content. It is also noticed to contain some amount of proteins and some
essential vitamins. The fibre content of garri makes one to feel full when it
is been consumed, and it is very helpful in preventing ailments such as
constipation and bowel diseases.
Also read: Follow these tips to relief IBS symptoms
Health Benefits Of Garri
·
Because of its fibre content, it helps in
fighting against constipation and other bowel diseases.
·
It provides us with energy because of its
high starchy content.
·
Red or yellow garri contains fats and oils,
which are great sources of additional nutrients and health benefits.
·
The major health benefits of garri is that it
serves as a complementary food to balance our diet. For example, garii (eba) is
being eaten with soups that contain foods such as vegetables, meats, fish, fats
and oil, minerals etc., and they provide various nutrients that makes the meal to
be a balanced diet.
Garri Production, Nutritional Facts And health Benefits
Reviewed by Chibuzor Aguwa
on
Monday, June 19, 2017
Rating:

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