Quality evaluation of ‘lafun’ produced from stored cassava roots

Freshly harvested cassava roots were stored in the soil and some were stored heaped on the floor of a well ventilated store room. These roots were stored for periods ranging from 1 to 9 days and samples were drawn from them respectively at 3 days interval and used to produce Lafun. Also, Lafun was produced from freshly harvested cassavaroots. The proximate composition, physicochemical characteristics, rheological characteristics and sensory quality of the Lafun produced were evaluated. The moisture content of the cassava roots decreased with storage period, irrespective of the storage conditions, from 67.75% in the fresh cassava to 55.61% in the stored cassava roots. The proximate composition of Lafun obtained from freshly harvested cassava roots were higher than those obtainedfrom the stored roots and the observed differences were more marginal with soil stored cassava roots than room stored cassava roots. The quantity of lafun produced from the stored cassava roots decreased with storage. The percentage reduction in yield varied from 8.2% to 25% over the 9 days storage period in the room, and from 2.5% to 5.6% over the 9 days storageperiod in the soil. Lafun produced from cassava roots storedin the soil for 1 to 6 days and cassava roots stored in the room for 1 to 3 days had final viscosity (326.75 –333.25RVU), Water Absorption Capacity (81.91 –91.81ml/gm), Bulk Density (0.55 – 0.58mg/ml) andSwelling Index (3.87 – 3.91) which were respectively similar to those obtained from freshly harvested cassava roots. However, lower values were obtained respectively, from Lafun produced from 9 days soil stored and 6 days to 9 days room stored cassava roots. There were no significant differences (