The steps of processing cassava into garri

This article will guide you to know every step of processing cassava into garri. If you want to make a profit from the cassava processing business, this article will be your most useful guidance. Alright, let’s dive right into it.

Introduction of Garri

What is the function of garri? Garri is a kind of tasty food made from cassava tubers. There are yellow garri and white garri. Their difference is that the yellow garri is made with palm oil added.

Garri and others garri eating methods

How to eat garri? On the one hand, you can eat it by mixing it in water with sugar or honey. In addition, you also can add some milk, coconut, palm kernel nuts, dry fish, groundnuts, or porridge beans (cowpea) to make garri more delicious. On the other hand, you can make garri to pasta, and eat it with egusi soup, okra soup, vegetable soup, etc.

How long can garri be stored?

Wrong storage method:

1) Store garri in a moist environment or leave them open in areas with high humidity.

2) Unpacking the garri to keep it in contact with the air for a long time will generate a lot of dust and bacteria.

Correct garri storage method

Correct storage method:

1) Fry or roast your garri properly to reduce its moisture content and spoilage.

2) Use airtight plastic buckets and bags to reduce air contact.

3) Store in a cool dry place.

Ohio State University's research shows that the proper processing of cassava – drying, soaking in water, rinsing, or baking effectively reduces cassava’s cyanogen content. Processing cassava into garri is one of these methods.

If you want to process raw cassava into garri, you must know a series of processing steps. Without further ado, let me introduce you.

Garri processing machine

The garri processing steps include the following;

With these necessary steps, you can get garri with a special sour flavor. You can eat it directly or keep it for a long time up to 6 months. However, if you want to see more detailed production details, you can read down.

Step 1: Get the best raw cassava material

This is the first step to process cassava into garri. If you have a cassava plantation, you need to sort your cassava tubers and pick the best ones to ensure the cassava is healthy and suitable for processing garri.

The best raw cassava material

Step 2: Wash and clean the cassava tubers

Picked cassava tubers still have a lot of dirt and grit on them, and you need to wash them off to make sure there are no impurities in the finished cassava tubers.

Some garri processing plants have complete cassava processing machines including cassava washing and cleaning machines like a dry sieve and paddle washing machine which you can use to promote cassava washing efficiency.

Step 3: Remove the two layers of skin from the cassava

The outer skin of cassava is very hard, so both layers need to be removed to ensure subsequent production.

There is also a special garri processing machine(peeling machine)for this step. You can use it to process garri and the peeling rate can reach 95%.

Cassava peeler to remove the two layers of skin from the cassava

Step 4: Grind the cassava tubers into the wet mash

This step can remove some cyanide from cassava tubers.

The traditional way is people use a rough metal sheet to grind the cassava manual. It not only takes a lot of time and usually make severe injuries to their fingers.

The modern way is to use a cassava grinding machine which is safer and easier to operate and more efficient.

It is worth mentioning that you just need to choose stainless steel cassava grinding machine to ensure food safety and no pollution.

Caution!!! Do not put your hand into a running cassava grater or it may accidentally injure you.

Step 5: Pack the wet cassava mash and fermentation for 2-3 days

The ground cassava mash is put into bags and placed on a rack for fermentation. During this process, the natural hydrocyanic acid (HCN) in cassava tubers is gradually removed. You can control the length of fermentation according to your taste, the longer the fermentation, the stronger the sourness.

But, you must control the fermentation process properly because if you leave it to ferment for a very short period, it will result in incomplete detoxification and a bland product.

Step 6: Dewater the moisture of cassava mash

You need to dewater the moisture of cassava mash. It is not feasible by squeezing the bag of garri with your hands.

Manual cassava dewatering method

Some people use wood and strong chords to tie the bag of garri, then place a heavy stone on the bag of garri to increase the pressure to dewater cassava. This method is so slow and unhygienic that is not a suitable choice for a commercial garri producer.

Thus, you can purchase a cassava dewatering machine to dewater the moisture to reach 38-40%. Then, you need to break the dewatered cassava cake, you can choose manual crushing or machine crushing. It is convenient for future frying garri.

Step 7: Fry the cassava grits to white garri

To get good quality garri, you have to control the right temperature. If the temperature is too high, the garri will be fried. If the temperature is too low, the garri will simply dry up slowly and produce a dry white powder. If you want to get yellow garri, you can add some palm oil during the stir fry.

Garr fryer to fry the cassava grits to white garri

The advice I can give you is that if you are going for mechanized garri production, you can choose a high-quality garri fryer. Not only can you choose the heating system you want, but also automatically control the temperature to ensure the quality of the garri.

Step 8: Sieve and pack the garri product in plastic bags and store properly

To make sure the garri particles are evenly sized, you need to sieve the garri. A quicker way is that you can use a vibration sieve for sieving. Finally, you can put the garri in a bag for safe storage or sell them directly.

The above is the detailed steps for garri production. If you want an industrial garri processing line, we can provide you with all the machines mentioned in the article. If you have any questions about garri production equipment, welcome to consult us.