Proximate and Mineral Composition of Co-Fermented Breadfruit and Cassava into Gari Analogue

Abstract

The study explored the potentials of substituting breadfruit into cassava to obtain gari analogue of which proximate and mineral compositions were evaluated. A portion of matured but unripe breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) and mature cassava tubers were co-fermented (100:0, 0:100, 80:20, 70:30, and 60: 40 Cassava to Breadfruit) to obtain gari analogue. The samples were evaluated for proximate and mineral analyses. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that Co-fermentation of cassava and breadfruit produced gari and gari analogue with slightly enhanced protein content. The protein content of the samples ranged from 3.42%-5.68% with 100% cassava gari having the lowest protein content (3.42%) and 100% Breadfruit gari having highest protein content (5.68%). Co-fermented products did not have enhanced mineral content than that of whole breadfruit and cassava gari. Zinc content of 100% cassava gari was 13.71, which were significantly higher than that of the co-processed gari. 100% Breadfruit gari and 60%C: 40%B had no zinc content at all. Calorific values of the 100% cassava gari was significantly higher (p<0.05) calories (4442.85 Kcal) than other gari samples with 100% Breadfruit gari having the lowest calories (3652.44 Kcal). This study established that 20% of breadfruit c-fermented with cassava yields a novel food product that compares favorably with 100% cassava gari in terms of nutritional values thus, confirming that processing of breadfruit into a locally familiar from analogue to gari will increase its utilization, especially in several food deficit countries where fermented cassava products are already accepted as staple foods.

Gari, a Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) Derived Product: Review on Its Quality and Their Determinants

“…Sun-drying step has been reported in Benin and Nigeria [7,55], and processes 2 and 3 are likely to occur in all the countries since they have been reported in the production of Gari at laboratory scale in many countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ghana [18,34,36,59,[69][70][71][72]. Reported Gari yield (from cassava) varies between 11.6% and 34.6%, with an average of 31% [20,36,37,42,73,74].…”