Gari is a popular food in Ghana and in other Western Africa countries. It is made from cassava tubers and is used in a way that is similar to rice, couscous, and quinoa. Building Solid Foundations volunteers are exploring ways to streamline the time-consuming and laborious production of gari.
In Ghana, women prepare gari. When mature, cassava tubers are dug by hand and washed to free them of dirt. Then the women peel the tubers and soak them in water. Later, the tubers are hand-grated and as much water as possible is squeezed out of the grated cassava. A few days later, after the grated cassava is partially dry and fermented, the grated cassava is spread out in the sun to dry. When it is almost completely dry, the grated cassava is passed through a mesh sieve, and then fried until it is totally dry. The final product is gari, which can be stored until needed.
Building Solid Foundations is searching for ways in which some of the physical labor involved in turning cassava tubers into gari can be replaced by portable, inexpensive machinery. Our goal is to increase the amount of gari that the women can make. Gari that they make in excess of what they need for their families could then be sold at market to help support their families.
If you are interested in knowing more about the production of gari or if you are already familiar with gari and would like to help BSF find ways to streamline its production, please send an email to hollie@buildingsolidfoundations.org.
Popular gari recipes can be found at www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/food/gari.html.