Do you know the largest grown crop in Africa?

If you do, then are you conversant with the different uses of this crop?

 

If you are still thinking of the answers to the above questions, this piece will take the burden off you.
CASSAVA is the largest grown crop in Africa, Nigeria precisely. The use of cassava is generally classified into two – Culinary and Industrial.

Culinary Use

The boiled root tastes similar to potato and is a great side for meat
dishes or in soups. Cassava is handled similarly to potatoes, meaning
they are eaten as mash, fried or boiled.

Mashing up cassava to make fufu

Cassava “mash”, fufu, is widely consumed by pounding and sieving
cassava to make flour which is then stirred in hot water. This is a
particularly popular food in Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic
Republic of Congo.

African Dish “fufu” with vegetable sauce "egusi soap"

Cassava is used to make garri, a kind of cassava porridge, which is a
white flour made from fermented cassava tubers. The flour can be added
to cold water and milk and seasoned to taste.

Women processing cassava to make garri

Garri, made from cassava

Cassava can be fried and offered as “yuca frita” as a side dish (a chicken soup).

Carimañola is a Panamanian dish that is a stuffed cassava fritter.
It is normally stuffed with cheese, meat or chicken and then fried.

Cassava is used in the form of tapioca which is a flavorless, starchy ingredient used as a thickening agent in foods. It is gluten-free and therefore used in many gluten-free foods. Tapioca is also used to make tapioca pudding and used to make gluten-free bread. Tapioca is also a main ingredient in the popular Bubble Tea, a Taiwanese Drink that has a tea base and includes tapioca pearls.

Industrial Use

Cassava pellets is used as animal feeds. It provides a lot of calories
to animals.

Cassava Pellets

Cassava when fermented and distilled produces Ethanol. Ethanol can be
mixed with petrol or used on its own as a transport fuel. It can also
be used as a base for alcoholic beverages. Lastly, ethanol can be
utilized as industrial alcohol which is important in the
pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.
Cassava Flour is gluten-free and can be used as a substitute for wheat flour.
Starch can be extracted from cassava roots used by the food industry
to form products sold in small packages for household cooking, but
also used by the paper and textile industry, as well as an adhesive in
glass, mineral wool and clay.

Cassava Flour

Thought for a new week: How adequately do you think cassava is being utilized in Africa.