This one is truly farm fresh from digging in the dirt to the dining room table!  This morning, Gnome dug up 5kgs (10lbs) of cassava on our farm (about 3 plants only) and afterwards we both set about to wash and peel our freshly acquired roots.

Next, we grated the cassava.  This was done by hand and this part took the longest length of time (about 2 hours).

We then washed the grated cassava once with water to remove some of the starch.  The washed water was retained so that the starch (tapioca) could be obtained from it.

We reserved some washed cassava to make Cassava Hash Browns Topped with Mozzarella which was a lovely treat after all the digging, washing and grating!

Next, we took the remaining grated root and reserved cassava water and laid them all out in the sun to dry.  This is to make dehydrated fufu which is an African/ Caribbean preparation of cassava in which the vegetable is boiled and then pounded with a large wooden mortar and pestle to make a dough-like food.  Traditionally fufu is eaten with soups.

So, out of our harvest of 10lbs of cassava, we obtained: 2lbs of sun-dried fufu and 2lbs of tapioca flour.  Not to mention a snack of Cassava Hash Browns!

Gnome said that today was a good lesson on realising the time and energy required in processing food from harvest to finished produce.

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