CASSAVA FLOUR KNOWN AS GARRI BY OLALEKAN ODUNTAN.

Cassava flour is now commonly eaten and served as cuisine in most of the international eateries all over the world. Cassava flour is known mostly to the Yoruba people in the Western part of Nigeria and it is a food substance that is locally available. Garri as it is locally referred to is one of the cheapest food substances that people can readily have access to. Cassava flour can be soaked into water for drinking or made into Eba which is eaten with soup. Garri can be added to cooked beans for eating and the substance can just be chewed like that without adding anything to it. There are so many people from different parts of the country dealing in making the Cassava tubers into Cassava flour and they name their places after the substance. We have names such as IJEBU GARRI, BENDEL GARRI, EGBA GARRI, IBO GARRI e.t.c. The Cassava flour made from all these places are the same, likewise the process with which the substance is made. Just as the name implies, Cassava flour is made from cassava tubers. After pilling them, the tubers are washed and taken to the miller for grinding. Thereafter, the water is squeezed or drained out of the grinded cassava completely before they start the process of roasting on fire which is the final stage of turning it into flour substance. While roasting it on fire, some people sometimes add a little bit of palm oil to change the colour from white to yellow which is the colour of Cassava flour from the people Eastern part of Nigeria called the Ibo. Call it Garri or Cassava flour, it is a food substance commonly eaten in Nigeria and already gained acceptance and recognition all over the world. Cassava flour is being sold in so many local markets in the country and it is also exported to other international markets around the world.