What is Garri?

Garri is a creamy-white, granular flour made from cassava tubers, also known as cassava flakes, and native to West African. Gari is widely taken in Nigeria and some other African countries owing to its affordability and availability. Garri in the form of water-soaked snack is often called ‘garium sulfate.’ One can mix it with cold water, sugar or salt, roasted groundnuts, and sometimes some evaporated milk. Garri, when stirred in steam or hot water until the dough is formed called Eba. This is swallowed in balls and taken alongside with varieties of African soups.

Know More about Garri:

Garri is, of course, one of the well-known foods which originated from the processing of cassava. Since cassava is one of the significant sources of carbohydrates, and it is widely grown. Cassava has a lot of its derivatives serving a more considerable utility in various industrial food processing firms.

Just as garri can be gotten from cassava, other food products can be processed from it, such as Fufu or Akpu, Bobozee (Abacha Mmiri), and crunchy chips as snacks.

Soaking garri, just like cereals, is a nice way of replacing expensive instant cereal among Nigerians. I overheard my neighbor claim that soaking garri blinds eyes, drinking garri is very nutritious as it is a beautiful source of energy. There has never been any scientific proof that someone could get blind through the consumption of soaked garri.

Garri contributes a lot of health benefits to our health, which is not only limited to its energy-giving ability to the body. There is some other vital nutrition in garri that amazingly aids the normality of our body functioning, general health, and lifestyle, which you have not known about until now.

Garri has a lot of nutritional content. The vitamins and minerals in garri and some other cassava products (e.g., flour, Abacha, etc.) are not just high levels of iron, calcium, sodium, manganese, magnesium, copper, thiamin, ascorbic acid, vitamin A (retinol), zinc, and potassium.  It is also high in dietary fiber, lipids, protein, and a lot more.

Nutritional Values of Cassava Flakes (Garri)

Packed Full of Folate

As we all know, our pregnant mothers need a lot of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and folate (vitamin B9). A cup of garri has 15 percent of our folate requirement per day and about 47 percent of the calcium requirement per day. These two vitamins are also helpful to the body’s immune system.

Aids in Digestion

Garri is very high in fiber content, which aids in digestive processes. Garri may be enjoyed by soaking in cold water with an evaporated milk to make it creamy. The fiber content in garri makes one feel satiated for a more extended period when consumed. It aids in quick digestion and also keeps us away from hunger for quite some time, and also reduces the chances of constipation.

The fiber content in garri aids in weight loss due to its ability to suppress appetite and also reduces the chances of other debilitating health conditions such as heart and liver diseases, diabetes, and cancer.

Inasmuch as its fiber content is wow for our digestive systems, taking excess of it can cause stomach bloat or cramps.

Cassava is also high in starch, known as a resistant starch due to its inability to get absorbed entirely by the digestive system. It is important to the body as it helps remove some of the particles of bad cholesterol present in the tract by trapping them through contact adhesion.

Owing to this, the eating of garri thus helps reduce glucose build-up in the blood.

Promote Eye health

Garri also contains a compound known as Bakarotennya; this compound prevents blindness. The presence of an important vitamin (retinol or vitamin A) in garri helps in the maintenance of optimum visual strength, as far as it is taking in moderation.

However, the garri has to be well processed to avoid eye issues that might occur or are caused by the presence of cyanide in not-to-well roasted garri. Especially when consumed in a very large quantity, hydro-cyanic acid in not-to-well roasted garri can also irritate the intestinal walls, thus worsening an ulcer due to its acidic nature.

Treats Diarrhea Better

Whenever you eat and have a meal-gone-wrong situation, just soak some garri in water and take twice in a day to get a perfect result.

Improves Immune System

The levels of most of the vitamins and minerals in garri might be very low, but garri remains a good source of other minerals like magnesium and copper, which help keep the immune system healthy.

These minerals also play some crucial roles in contributing to the maintenance of healthy nerves, bones, and general immune systems.

Some folks may not know that the more they consume copper-rich diets; the more they maintain functioning and healthy nervous system, and on the other hand, reduce the risks of having osteoporosis.

Dietary Fiber

One of the prominent health benefits of garri is channeled to its high dietary fiber content.  Dietary fiber is directly associated with our digestive tract. However, fiber health benefits cut across relief from hyper-cholesterol, diabetes, hemorrhoids, obesity, heart problems, and skin conditions. Fiber plays a very vital role in digestion as it helps in the prevention of constipation, diverticulosis diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It makes the food heavier and further aid glucose absorption so that your blood cells get enough sugar at a slow and even pace, thus maintaining normal glycaemic levels. It also synthesizes important organic acids that help to keep the lining of the colon safe.

Magnesium

Garri is high in magnesium. One of the benefits of magnesium to our health cuts across the prevention of diarrhea, constipation, asthma, and diarrhea. It keeps our muscles, nerves, and skeletal bones healthy. It also plays an important role in cellular metabolism and protein synthesis. Magnesium is pertinent for maintaining a normal heartbeat and is often used by doctors to control irregularities in heart rhythm movements. Other cute health benefits include its brilliant impact on osteoporosis reduction and maintenance of blood sugar level and its dynamic effects on back pain, diabetes, and all sorts of psychiatric disorders.

Cut Down on Age-speeding

So many studies have shown that a cup of garri contains about 15% of folate required by our body in a day as well as up to 47% of our body’s requirement for calcium.

Folate has a prominent role to play in pregnant women on fetal development, and it helps limit the risks of age-linked macular degeneration. Therefore, it helps limit age-related issues that may progress faster in human bodies and may lead to the loss of sight.

How to Make Garri from Cassava Tubers

Garri (Cassava Flakes) is made from fresh cassava. Cassava is a well-known tuber crop, which is very high in starch levels, and it is processed in diverse ways to get wholesome products. Below is a chronological process on how to make garri for you.

• After you have harvested your cassava tubers from the farm, peel off the back and endeavor not to peel too deep into it.
• The next is to wash the peeled tubers off the dirt. Try washing with a lot of water to remove sand particles, because it is the only opportunity to prevent smashing your teeth on stones while eating your garri.
• Cut the big tubers into smaller sizes to increase the grinding speed in the machine.
• After grinding, bag the wet grounds in sack bags and hold them in place under a press to drain water out of it.
• Leave the bag under the press for up to 5 days to detoxify the cassava off hydrocyanic acid.
• When dry, use a wide sieve to further break the blocks of pressed cassava into smooth particles.
• Then fry using any available wide frying pan, fry the powder and turn until it becomes very brittle and dry.
• Further, use your large sieve to sieve out more massive particles to have uniform-sized garri grains—a typical garri Ijebu (Garri made in Ijebu land). Ijebu is a division of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe, well known for the best type of garri.
• The final step is to package your garri in dry bags or any other dry containers.