A new kind of garri engineered by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will soon flood the Nigerian market. The new product has already been tested in three states of the federation – Benue, Imo, and Osun.
The new swallow is a departure from the normal eba process. Traditionally, the cassava mash used for garri production in Nigeria is left to ferment between 48 and 96 hours, depending on its quality.
There is high variability in the sensory attributes and consumer acceptability of the garri. Additionally, the fermentation process takes longer in some communities where highly sour garri is preferred, reducing the quantity of garri produced within a specific period.
The backslopped method of fermentation, where portions of the previously fermented cassava mash are added to a freshly prepared cassava mash to act as an inoculum, allows for the gradual selection of lactic acid bacteria and accelerated fermentation.
Backslopped fermentation has been used for cassava products such as fufu, lafun, and stored cassava chips garri, but little or no information is available on backslopped fermented garri (BFG) produced from freshly grated cassava roots and the consumer acceptability of the garri/eba.
Consequently, Design-Expert software was used to get the mixing ratios of the fresh cassava mash (FCM) and backslopped cassava mash (BCM) to produce a laboratory-scale garri.
Results showed that the optimum combinations of FCM and BCM for gari were 88 g FCM: 20 g BCM after 24 h, 90 g FCM: 20 g BCM after 48 h, 87 g FCM: 20 g BCM after 72 h, and 70 g FCM: 16 g BCM after 96 h.
The outcome of the laboratory scale garri was used for the training on the production and consumer acceptability of BFG in three different locations each in Benue (Gwei-east, Konshisha, and Makurdi LGAs), Imo (Ikeduru, Mbaitoli, and Owerri North LGAs), and Osun (Ifelodun, Olaoluwa, and Orolu LGAs) states.
The FCM and the BCM combinations look like the 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h fermented gari. They were used in Benue and Imo states. This is because these states do not like gari that is too sour.
In Osun, the combinations of the FCM and the BCM that produced gari that looks like the 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h fermented gari were used as the people in the state like a more sour gari. The control sample was produced using the traditional methods of garri production in each location.
The consumer acceptability study showed that most of the gari consumers in Benue State preferred the 72 h BFG compared to the control sample produced in each location. Garri/eba consumers in Ikeduru and Mbiatoli LGAs of Imo State preferred the 48 h BFG and the 72 h BFG compared to the control sample, respectively.
In contrast, the consumers in Owerri-North preferred the control sample compared to the eba prepared from all the BFG samples. More than 55% of the gari/eba consumers in Osun State liked the control sample compared to all the BFG.
Therefore, BFG was well accepted in Benue and Imo states. Still, there is a need to increase the length of fermentation of BCM and the quantity of BCM added to FCM in producing BFG in Osun State for proper adoption and commercialization.
The NextGen Cassava Breeding project (NextGen Cassava) seeks to modernise partner cassava breeding institutions in Africa and use cutting-edge tools to deliver improved cassava varieties.
