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Roots and tubers from Indonesia

Gatot and tiwul (Java fermented cassava)gatot

Gatot is peeled cassava that is part-dried in the sun, left in sacks until moulds turn it grey or black, then dried again into gatotan. The black pieces are soaked for four days while lactic bacteria sour the water, then steamed into a chewy, dark staple. Tiwul is made by grinding dried cassava (gaplek) to flour and steaming it.

Fully documentedRoots and tubers13 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTraditional village process with no fixed batch size. The only ratio given is the soak, 1 part gatotan to 4 parts water (Astriani 2018).
Cassava roots, peeled and washedThe study used the bitter local variety Gembluk, harvested at nine months[astriani2018]
Water, for soaking the dried black gatotan1 part to 4 parts water (v/v)[astriani2018]
No starterMoulds come from the air during sun-drying; lactic bacteria grow during the soak[astriani2018]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countMoulds

What changes: Peeled cassava dries in the sun for four days and picks up mould spores from the air

Step 1 of 5
Peel, wash and part-dry the cassava in the sun
Time
4 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: semi-dried cassava.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

mould spores from the air settle on the drying roots

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Gatot is peeled cassava that is part-dried in the sun, left in sacks until moulds turn it grey or black, then dried again into gatotan. The black pieces are soaked for four days while lactic bacteria sour the water, then steamed into a chewy, dark staple. Tiwul is made by grinding dried cassava (gaplek) to flour and steaming it. Made in 5 steps over 13 days. The longest step, ferment in sacks until the mould blackens it, takes 5 days (Astriani A 2018) and runs at 24–28 °C (Astriani A 2018). Moulds on the drying cassava (Botryodiplodia theobromae, Rhizopus oligosporus), named by the study as potential starter cultures and Lactic acid bacteria in the soak do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5 daysReported[astriani2018]Ferment in sacks until the mould blackens it
Temperature24–28 °CReported[astriani2018]Ferment in sacks until the mould blackens it
AciditypH 6 → 4Measured[astriani2018]Soak the gatotan in water

What makes this one different

Most cassava ferments soak or grate the fresh root. Gatot is dried first and moulded in sacks until it turns black, and only then soaked so lactic bacteria can soften it, so mould and bacteria work in two separate stages.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Tiwul (thiwul)The sun-dried cassava (gaplek) is ground to flour and steamed; instant and flavoured tiwul are newer forms.
  • Instant gatotA newer instant form.

Safety

Bitter cassava holds cyanide-forming glycosides. Drying, soaking and fermenting are the steps that reduce it, so none of them should be cut short (Astriani 2018). No source we read measured cyanide in finished gatot or tiwul, so these steps are not proven safe for every root. Sun-drying alone removes only 60 to 70 % and can leave 30 to 100 mg/kg in dry roots [fao1990], so tiwul from bitter gaplek, which has no soak, carries more risk. Cyanide dissolves into the soak water, so throw that water away [fao1990]. Unwanted moulds can also make the cassava toxic, more so when the sack stage runs past ten days (Astriani 2018). Those moulds can leave the cassava unable to blacken inside, and yeast contamination rots it, leaving it soft and smelling of acid and alcohol (Astriani 2018).

Hazards the sources name: Trichoderma sp. and Aspergillus niger, unwanted contaminant fungi that grew dominantly in some batches, left them without the black colour and might make the cassava toxic (Astriani 2018).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Gatot and tiwul were famine foods of poor Javanese villagers, also served at rural ceremonies such as selametan and nyadran. They declined as Indonesia grew richer and have come back with nostalgia and tourism (Prastowo 2025).

  1. [fao1990] FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)gov
  2. [astriani2018] Astriani A., Diniyah N., Jayus J., Nurhayati N. 2018, Phenotypic identification of indigenous fungi and lactic acid bacteria isolated from 'gatot' an Indonesian fermented food, Biodiversitas 19(3):947–954, doi 10.13057/biodiv/d190325paper
  3. [mardiyaningsih2026] Mardiyaningsih A., Astuti P., Widodo W., Purwanto P. 2026, Metagenomic analysis of Gatot, a cassava-based fermented food from Yogyakarta Indonesia, Brazilian Journal of Biology (abstract via Europe PMC)paper
  4. [prastowo2025] Prastowo I., Octaviana S., Moro H.K.E.P., Nurusman A.A. 2025, The scientific and cultural perspectives on Thiwul and Gathot as the revival Indonesian traditional fermented foods, Discover Food 5(1) (abstract via the BRIN repository)paper