The benefits and processing technologies of gari, a famous indigenous food of Nigeria

Gari is a creamy, granular flour obtained from roasting fermented cassava mash. Gari is a staple food in Nigeria that is consumed by almost everybody and which can enhance food security due to it availability and affordability. The raw material for gari production is cassava which is processed either through traditional method or modern method. The traditional method involves harvesting, peeling, wet cleaning (washing), grating, adding red oil (optional), fermentation, dewatering, sieving, garifying on heated hot pan to gelatinize the starch and then cooling while the modern method involves the use of mechanized machines for the various processes involved in the gari production. Gari is rich in carbohydrates, minerals (like Ca, Mg and P) and vitamins (like vitamins A and B). Due to roasting and leaching out with water, gari processing results in severe nutritional losses. The nutritional content of gari is affected by the type of processing regime employed. Compared to gari prepared using mechanized approach, gari processed using a traditional method typically contains more nutrients and less anti-nutrients. Gari can be eaten directly or it can be soaked in water together with sugar and groundnut. It can be used to make eba by mixing the gari in hot water and stirred into a dough and the eba can be eaten with vegetable soup. Gari is rich in carbohydrates and fibre but low in protein and therefore should be eaten with food rich in protein like meat, fish, egg and beans. Inadequate processing of gari can result in excessive concentrations of anti-nutrients such as hydrogen cyanide. Soaking, grating, pressing, fermentation and oven-frying are methods which have been employed to reduce the cyanide content of gari to acceptable levels for consumption. Some microorganisms involved in cassava fermentation include Lactobacillus acidophilus, Levilactobacillus brevis among others. The consuming markets of Africa comprise, among others, the following nations Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Congo. In many African nations, including Nigeria, women are primarily responsible for the processing of cassava.