*CASSAVA TO GARRI: A TRADITIONAL FOOD PROCESSING*

Hello fellow Steemians; permit me make I use pidgin English dey talk to una. Today, my sisters and I, been dey processed GARRI. Make I carry una reach inside school on how una fit make garri.

GARRI!
Dis one na our traditional food wey men like am well-well for West Africa, especially for Nigeria. I be Akwa Ibom man in Nigeria. And as Akwa Ibomites, we no dey joke with Garri at all. In fact, any married man for de country dey choose garri and soup first before any other food. Because of de work wey him go do for him wife for night. Him need strength; and garri dey give pesin strength well-well.

Make I no waste time. I go rush explain Garri from de planting to harvesting and processing. To start with, you need to have a land weda big or small wey you go plant yor cassava stems. Clear de bush and make am well. For my side, we dey clear the bush and burn am. You don dey ready be data.
Oya, make I dey explain small-small.

PLANTING:
Garri dey come from wetin Oyibo dey call Cassava. Dis cassava na one of de root crops in Nigeria. We dey cut the cassava stems in bit like 1 meter apart to give Dem enough space to grow. After day, you go use hoe and dig a small hole on the ground and many as possible... Na your choice, Waka dey put the cut cassava stems inside each of de holes. Put up to three per hole. Make sure say rain don fall well-well. De cassava go need enough water to comot for ground for de process wey Oyibo dey call germination.

GROWTH STAGE:
Like every other crop wey you plant, de cassava go start to dey grow small-small. Den if you get manure or fertilizer, you fit put am. De fertilizer go make am grow very fast. E no finish for dat, within three weeks or more, weeds go full de farm. You need to remove de weeds so dat de cassava go get enough space to grow. No forget say, de weeds go dey struggle with de cassava for space. Na why you need remove dem since you no wan dem.

De cassava plants don dey grow well-well. E dey take just 6 - 12 months to mature.

HARVESTING:
When de cassava plants don mature, we harvest Dem by carefully digging around de roots with a hoe. Na wetin my sisters and I did 4 days ago.

Na de cassava be dat. E don ready. We packed dem come back house.

PEELING AND WASHING:
Dis part dey interesting well-well. We join hand dey peel de cassava without stress. We peel dem to remove de skin. Den we wash Dem in clean water to remove any dirt. My pipu, de washing process no de take time. After dat, we put dem for big basin, Carey am go where you want grind dem. Meanwhile, if una get grating machine for house una work go dey simple be dat.

GRATING:
We grate tmde peeled and washed cassava roots into fine particles, mostly in de form of paste.
For my place we dey use grating machine. See am here.

Na here you go know say you dey process cassava, because de particles go full your body.

SQUEEZING/DRYING:
After grating de cassava into paste, you go decide whether you wan put oil for de cassava to become red garri or you wan make am white. Na by choice. Put dem inside de kind of bag wey dem dey put rice, tie de mouth of de bag, put am into pressing machine and press am to remove de water completely to preserve de garri.

SIEVING:
Once de garri don dry, pesin go help sieve am to remove any lumps. Dis gives us fine, smooth garri dat is ready for frying. Na de sieving wey my sister wey tie blue wrapper dey do so. You don see am.

FRYING/FINAL PRODUCT:
Ladies and Gentlemen, e don reach de real time wey de garri go dey ready. My sister dey fry de garri.
To fry am, you need to make fire, get a wide mouth pot like de one wey my sister de use so. Put the garri and turn am until de garri is done.
And dat is it! Our garri don done e dey ready.

We can soak am with milk or water, add sugar or salt and drink with groundnut, coconut or any thing of your choice provided him go with de garri.
Garri is mostly taken as swallow. In dis case, you go boil water and put for a container. Prepare de garri to your desire pastes. It could be soft or hard. Den use am with any soup of your choice.

A real African man! Garri is his motivator. Enjoy your garri.