Diary Game with NATURE 🌳🌳||How I Processed Cassava Locally

Diary Game with NATURE: How I Processed Cassava Locally

INTRODUCTION

My diary Game with nature is all about how I processed cassava to its finished product known as garri. It is not easy to engage in this kind activities as it takes more than a day to complete the processing into finished product. So the process is a very stressful one indeed.

Farmers are known by their hard work of producing food that sustains people. The food production may not really be for commercial purposes but, they are able to produce what they can eat.

In this my diary game with nature which has to do with cassava processing, I have divided it into the following stages for easy understanding. I have come up with 5 different stages of processing cassava locally in this competition and they are as follows:

• The harvesting stage

• The Pilling and washing stage

• The grinding stage

• The sieving and frying stage

The Harvesting Stage

This is the first stage any farmer must go through to harvest cassava. Here in this stage, I went to my farm and harvested the cassava. Usually it takes a year for the cassava to mature for harvesting after it has been planted.

To harvest the cassava, made use of the hoe and knife. While I use the hoe to uproot the cassava, I use the knife to clear the bush so I could see the hips of the cassava clearly. After harvest as possible as could, I bagged them and brought them home. The makes way for the next action to be taken.

• The Pilling and washing Stage

This stage has to do with removing the dirty outer skin of the cassava. It can not be processed together with the that dirty part of it and so the dirty part has to be removed by using kitchen knife to pill them off.

After the Pilling off the cassava, it would be time to wash it. Water would be poured on it into a basin and sponge would be used to wash it. This makes it to be clean and whiter. After washing it, it would now be taken to the grinding mill where it would be grinded.

The Grinding Stage
I took the pilled and washed cassava down to the grinding mill. Grinding breaks the cassava down after which it would be bagged and then, taken to pressing machine. The machine presses the cassava to remove the water from it and make it solid.

As it undergo the pressing to remove the water from it, it may take two days to solidify and get set for the next stage. This stage would be the sieving and frying stage.

The Sieving and Frying Stage
This is the final stage how I processed my cassava locally to produce garri. Here, I brought the local wooden sieve which is used to sieve the grinded cassava. The sieving takes some to finish. Depending on the quantity of the cassa if small, you can sieve it yourself. If it is more you could find someone to help sieve it and you can start heating to frying.

The cassava is small in quantity so had to sieve it myself. The sieving is about using the Sieve to reduce the grinded cassava from the pressing machine to smallest particles. During this stage, one places the grinded pressed Cassava on the sieve and then uses the hands to break it down by moving the hands on top and around the Sieve. At the end of the Sieving, this Cassava now appears as small particles just like the sands.

The Frying or Heating

This is the final stage of cassava processing. It involves applying heat to dry the sieved cassava. As you could see, I used firewood for heating to fry it. It is another time consuming aspect of processing Cassava after the harvesting and Pilling stage. It takes hours to finish frying it. The heating is to bring to its dry form.

It is dangerous to eat without frying or drying it. Infact, it can't just be eaten without drying it using heat. Drying it with heat brings it to its consumable form. Below is the fried, heated or better still, the processed cassava.

The Processed Cassava
At this form, it now safe and ready to be eaten. For cassava to be processed as food, it the farmer really engages in a rigorous stressful labour.

This is my diary game with nature that highlights how I started to from the farm, to the point of heating and frying process to produce garri. Garri is a major source of carbohydrate and is enjoyed by almost everyone.

I now invite:
@nsijoro
@emmabritt
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