Cassava Processing Technology

(adm/Apr 24, 2009)

Product development of local foods, especially those rich in carbohydrates, is required to provide a wide variety of diets, reduce rice-dependent consumption, and thus support food security. Cassava tuber is one of highly carbohydrate-containing foods which can be processed to produce multipurpose flour.

ICAPRD (Indonesian Center for Post harvest Research and Development) technology is able to produce good cassava flour, which is whiter in color than that of traditional flour, made from dried cassava. In addition, by fermenting cassava chips in a particular microbial solution, cassava odor, s common defect identified in the flour, can be eliminated and particle size of the flour improved. The product has been recommended as a good substitute for wheat flour especially for making cookies and sponge cakes.

Cassava flour can also be processed further to produce cassava sugars in the forms of flour or syrup which may potentially substitute for table sugar from sugar-cane. The results show that cassava tuber yields starch of about 15-25%. Meanwhile, yield of glucose syrup from dried cassava starch is around 80-95%. Recently, ICAPRD has been developing a simple and applicable cassava sugars processing technology by which wet as well as dried cassava starch can be used to produce either glucose syrup or fructose syrup.