A traditional processed meal of the Luhya people, who are mostly from Busia County in Western Kenya, is dried cassava (Manihot esculenta). Cassava cultivated nearby is used to make it, particularly the bitter variety. This crop is well suited to the local climate and resistant to drought. The majority of cassava grown in the area is consumed by humans, with any excess being turned into starch or fed to animals.
Local farmers can enhance the otherwise bitter flavor of cassava roots and detoxify them by dehydrating them. Bitter cassava includes cyanogenic chemicals. You may store dried cassava roots for a number of years. The tubers are peeled, cleaned, and sun dried for around six hours to remove extra moisture before being made into Busia dry cassava. After that, the partially dried roots are stacked in a kitchen corner and kept there for three to five days with a bag on top.
Using a blunt knife, scrape out any mold that grows during this time. After that, the roots are placed on a spotless floor and broken up into large, mushy pieces with a stone. They are then allowed to sun dry for 12 to 14 hours.
In Busia County, cassava is a staple crop that is highly valued, and the dried tubers are a valuable resource during times of famine. In the local villages, men and women work together to produce cassava: women are responsible for peeling, cutting, and drying the roots, while men tend to the cultivation. One of the main ingredients in many regional dishes is dried cassava: It is ground into flour after being combined with finger millet, sorghum, or maize.
Without using any cereal, they may likewise be ground into flour. Boiling water is added to the flour, which is then swirled until it cooks into either light porridge, or ugali, or thick porridge. While ugali is served with meat, fish, or leafy green vegetables, uji is a beverage. Dried cassava roots are processed for sale as well as for personal use. In Kenya, particularly in the north and west of the nation, merchants and women sell them directly at neighborhood markets. The rural families of Busia County rely heavily on this commodity as a source of income.
Compared to many other traditional processing methods, such boiling cassava (which is less efficient as a detoxification procedure) or cutting the roots into chips for drying and milling, the method employed in Busia for drying and detoxifying cassava requires more effort. There are various reasons why the preservation of this traditional commodity is under jeopardy. On the one hand, individuals have shifted from dried cassava to foods that are seen to be healthier due to changing eating patterns. However, the availability of industrial flours, which are frequently less expensive than traditional flours, makes it challenging to commercialize this product.
