Garri
West African cassava flour staple used in diverse dishes.
Last updated
Garri is a granular flour made from fresh cassava roots, varying from fine to coarse texture.[1] The preparation process uses heat to remove naturally occurring cyanohydrin toxins from the cassava.[2] In Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroon, and Liberia, flours like garri that are mixed with cold or hot water form a staple part of the diet.[3]
Quick Facts
- Field
- Food staple
- Region
- West Africa
- Known for
- Staple flour from cassava
- used in eba
- kokoro
- and soaked garri
- Main ingredients
- Cassava root
- Varieties
- White and yellow garri
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Garri comes in rough, medium, and smooth consistencies for different foods.[4] Two main types are white garri and yellow garri.[5] Garri mixed with boiling water makes eba, a side dish served with vegetable stews.[1] In Igbo land, garri is nicknamed "The common-man’s food" and is arguably the most consumed food after rice.[6]
What the cited sources add
The African Foods account states that garri is also called Delta garri and that Ghana Gari is garri made in Ghana.[1] The same source notes that garri can be classified by fermentation length or whether palm oil is added.[1] The Chinonye guide describes garri as a carbohydrate-based food consumed in Nigeria and Igboland in particular.[6] That guide explains that soaked garri is served with groundnut seeds, dried meat, or bean cake, with sweetener if desired.[6]
The African Foods account mentions that garri is also used as a soup thickener.[1] The Chinonye guide states that the two main varieties of garri are yellow and white, with similar processing methods.[6]
References
- "Garri", African Foods. facts only, no text reused. africanfoods.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Garri" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vasconcelos, "Detoxification of cassava during gari preparation", International Journal of Food Science and Technology, April 1990, p. 198-203 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Garri" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "African Foods and Foodways", Routledge, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Garri" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Garri", African Foods (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Garri" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Garri: A Guide to West Africa's Staple Food", The Wisebaker, 16 September 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Chinonye, "How To Prepare Garri From Cassava Tubersm", Micheal Widjaja. facts only, no text reused. igboguide.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Garri (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Ghanaian cuisine
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Garri (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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