Carriers for starter cultures for the production of garri, a fermented food derived from cassava

Garri is a popular food in Nigeria derived from the fermentation of the mas h obtained from the enlarged root of the cassava plant, Manihot esculenta C rantz. As currently produced, the mash used for garri production is spontan eously fermented; on account of this, there is great variability in the org anoleptic properties and the quantities of residual cyanide in the garri fr om Nigeria. The use of starter cultures can help ensure uniformity in these properties if dry carriers can be found on which the fermentative organism s can survive for extended periods so as to facilitate the transportation o f their carriers to the many small and scattered garri producers. We theref ore studied the survival, singly or mixed, on dry starchy substrates derive d from locally available crops, of Lactobacillus coryneformis, Lact. delbru ckii, and Saccharomyces sp., which are associated with garri production, as carriers for these organisms. After 16 weeks of storage, between 75% and 8 5% of the organisms survived on yam, coco-yam, cassava in that order, where as between 40 and 65% survived on rice and garri. Refrigeration at 4 degree s C did not improve the survival of the organisms, when compared to room te mperature (30 degrees C) for the organisms stores on yam, coco-yam, and cas sava. However where the organisms were stored on rice and garri, refrigerat ion improved the survivability of the organisms by between 10 and 20%.