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Vegetables from Republic of the Congo

Ntoba mbodi (fermented cassava leaves)ntoba mbodi

Ntoba mbodi is cassava leaves wilted, chopped, washed and wrapped in large leaves, then left for two to four days while Bacillus bacteria break down protein. The pH rises to about 8.5 instead of falling, and about 70 % of the leaves' cyanide is lost in the first day; the leaves must be boiled thoroughly before eating.

Fully documentedVegetables4 days – 7 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sources give no fixed batch size. The process diagram lists only leaves, washing and wrapping.
Cassava leavesLeaves 2 weeks to 3 months old from plantings around Brazzaville in the thesis study[kobawila2003]
Large wrapping leavesCarica papaya or Cyrtosperma senegalense[vouidibio2017]
WaterFor washing the chopped leaves[vouidibio2017]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 7 days

Start
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What changes: Picked cassava leaves wilt and soften in the open air

Step 1 of 5
Pick the leaves and let them wilt
Time
2–3 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus

The thesis process diagram calls this partial drying in ambient air. Output: wilted cassava leaves.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
leaves soften
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

Ntoba mbodi is cassava leaves wilted, chopped, washed and wrapped in large leaves, then left for two to four days while Bacillus bacteria break down protein. The pH rises to about 8.5 instead of falling, and about 70 % of the leaves' cyanide is lost in the first day; the leaves must be boiled thoroughly before eating. Made in 5 steps over 4 days – 7 days. The longest step, ferment at ambient temperature, takes 2–4 days (Vouidibio Mbozo A.B 2017) and runs at 26 °C → 31 °C (Kobawila S.C. 2003). Bacillus pumilus group, 72.21 % of isolates and Bacillus megaterium, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. subtilis, B. siamensis and B. licheniformis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–4 daysReported[vouidibio2017][kobawila2003]Ferment at ambient temperature
Temperature26 °C → 31 °CMeasured[kobawila2003]Ferment at ambient temperature
AciditypH 6.5 → 8.5Measured[kobawila2003]Ferment at ambient temperature

What makes this one different

The same leaf as the lactic cassava-leaf ferments, taken down the alkaline path. Bacillus, not lactic bacteria, lead, and the pH rises to 8–10 instead of falling.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ntoba mbodi from Manihot glazioviiTree cassava leaves instead of M. esculenta; 50 samples of both kinds measured pH 6–8 (Itoua et al. 2023).

Safety

Fermenting does not make these leaves safe. Hydrogen cyanide fell from 1158 to 339.6 mg/kg in the first 24 hours and then stopped falling [kobawila2003]. One thesis test read zero after 2 minutes of cooking, but do not rely on a short cook. In FAO's figures for mpondu, another cassava-leaf dish, boiling took the leaves from 68.6 mg/kg to 3.7 after 15 minutes and 1.2 after 30 [fao1990]. Boil the leaves thoroughly and never eat them raw. Some B. cereus isolates carried haemolytic and non-haemolytic enterotoxin and cytotoxin K genes and made haemolysin. No emetic toxin gene was found, and the other Bacillus carried none of the toxin genes screened. The authors suggest defined starters to make the process safer.

Hazards the sources name: Bacillus cereus sensu lato (12.22 % of isolates), carrying Nhe, Hbl and CytK toxin genes.

History and sources

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

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
  1. [fao1990] FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)gov
  2. [kobawila2003] Kobawila S.C. 2003, Les aliments fermentés d'Afrique centrale, cas du Congo, doctoral thesis, Université de Ouagadougoupaper
  3. [vouidibio2017] Vouidibio Mbozo A.B., Kobawila S.C., Anyogu A., Awamaria B., Louembe D., Sutherland J.P. and Ouoba L.I.I. 2017, Investigation of the diversity and safety of the predominant Bacillus pumilus sensu lato and other Bacillus species involved in the alkaline fermentation of cassava leaves for the production of Ntoba Mbodi, Food Control 82, 154–162 (accepted version)paper
  4. [ouoba2015] Ouoba L.I.I. et al. 2015, Lysinibacillus louembei sp. nov., a spore-forming bacterium isolated from Ntoba Mbodi, alkaline fermented leaves of cassava from the Republic of the Congo, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (abstract)paper
  5. [ijisrt2023] Itoua I., Kissita M., Bakeni Moukani F.C. and Dhellot J.R.L. 2023, Physicochemical and sensory characteristics of fermented Manihot esculenta Crantz and Manihot glaziovii leaves (Ntoba mbodi) in Congo-Brazzaville, IJISRT 8(5) (abstract)web