Check out this video I uploaded on youtube showing how to process green cooking bananas!
Check out this video I uploaded on youtube showing how to process green cooking bananas!
Description
Cassava tubers are an incredible, versatile, starchy food source. It is super easy to grow and thrives in minimal and poor soils! Did you know that processing and preparing cassava is just as easy as growing it? There are many ways to prepare cassava; I’ve found this method really straightforward to get it into the kitchen. This method is for pressure cooking cassava and not making flours, starch granules, or ferments. Once cassava is out of the ground the shelf life is really short, so process it as soon as possible. Not to worry when you have a large harvest, it’s easy to store too!
You need to learn the variety you’re growing. Be sure to only dig up the same variety and process it by itself. Don’t mix varieties when you process and cook as they may have different textures and cook times. Variety names do not matter, as I cannot find any information on varieties and cook times, so just stick to your same varieties and learn as you go. I’ve heard on our island we have three varieties: red, yellow and green. But I have at least five distinctly different varieties growing right now, so that shattered that theory. Look at leaf shape, color of stem and leaves, and color of petiole and stipule. Since cassava is typically grown as a clone and not seed, genetic variability doesn’t occur. So these are direct clones someone has cultivated somewhere and it adapted and evolved into separate varieties. In simple: stick to same varieties when preparing and cooking. I like to grow a few plants in close proximity and harvest them all at the same time and re-grow a patch once harvested.
Harvest
Again, you have to learn when your particular variety is ready for harvest, write down when you planted it and write down when you obtain a satisfactory harvest. Different varieties harvest between 6-18 months. You may harvest at specific time depending on the age of tuber you want. I prefer young tubers as you can use them all and not worry about woodiness. So I harvest early.
There are two ideologies when it comes to harvesting cassava. 1. Dig the whole plant up, and 2. Dig a few tubers at a time as needed. I prefer pulling the whole plant up, and pull up multiple plants at once, and have a single large processing batch rather than doing small ones regularly. I like to minimize work and store processed goods to grab and throw together a meal rather than: harvest, process and then cook.
Yank that plant out of the ground! If you’ve prepared soil, it comes out as soon as you pull enough on the main stalk, should be easy to pull up all the roots at once. If you didn’t prepare soil and it’s growing in lava rocks, you’ll have to get down there and move around rocks until you can get the whole thing out.
If you harvest during the week of the full and new moons, the energy of the plants will be in the roots and therefore, create a more nutritious harvest. If you harvest at these times, it is also a good time to propagate as the energy is in the roots and will begin rooting right away. Working with nature!
Post Harvest Processing
Kitchen Work
In the kitchen comes the final part of processing. First thing to know: if your knife doesn’t cut through easily, compost it, it’s not worth the frustration!
Fries: Bake @ 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Olive oil, sage, rosemary, salt, pepper
Preserved cassava products: frozen pressure cooked, frozen hash browns. In jars: puba – fermented cassava flour
Conclusions
Processing cassava in this manner is easy and accessible for anyone to enjoy this dense and delicious starch. This methodology allows us to use tubers in a certain way, there are other numerous ways to eat and utilize this amazing plant. My favorite method is called puba, take fresh root and mill it into a thick moist ‘flour’. From there you take it and press out all of the liquid. After pressing and it’s fully dry, you take it and press it into jars and allow it to ferment 1-2 weeks. From there you can use it as ‘bread’ and make pizzas and crusts. It’s delicious!!! Cassava is so versatile, now you too can enjoy cooking it up!
Happy Gardening!