Roots and tubers

Also called davuke, masi, madrai ni Viti (bread from pit starch, reported), Fijian pit fermentation.

Davuke is the Fijian way of keeping breadfruit, and also cassava and banana, by fermenting the peeled food in a pit lined with leaves. Aalbersberg and colleagues described it as a lactic acid fermentation, and the paste becomes strongly acidic. The fermented paste is cooked into a pudding or bread, often with coconut.

1. Peel the fruit or roots
2. Pack into a leaf-lined pit (davuke) and cover
3. Cook as a pudding or bread with coconut

Safety: Cassava holds cyanide-forming compounds that can cause vomiting, collapse and in some cases death. No source we read measures cyanide in pit-fermented cassava, so this page does not show that the pit makes it safe to eat.

• Aalbersberg W.G.L., Lovelace C.E.A., Madhoji K., Parkinson S.V. 1988, Davuke, the traditional Fijian method of pit preservation of staple carbohydrate foods, Ecology of Food and Nutrition 21(3):173–180, doi:10.1080/03670244.1988.9991030 (abstract as quoted in search results only; the USP repository page shows a bot check and was not read)
• Mehta K.A., Quek Y.C.R., Henry C.J. 2023, Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), processing, nutritional quality, and food applications, Frontiers in Nutrition 10:1156155 (cites Aalbersberg et al. 1988 for the pH)
• Aalbersberg W.G.L., Dreier U., Parkinson S. 1994, Microbiology of pit fermentation of breadfruit and cassava in Fiji, USP technical report (record only)
• FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)

A research flour made by treating breadfruit the way cassava is retted for fufu. Peeled, chopped breadfruit was left to ferment in water for 5 days, then dewatered, oven-dried at 50 °C and milled into a flour for a fufu-like swallow. It is a lab product, not a traditional food.

1. Peel and comminute the breadfruit
2. Steep and ferment5 days
3. Dewater, oven-dry and mill50 °C

• Adeniran H.A., Gbadamosi S.O., Omobuwajo T.O. 2012, Microbiological and physico-chemical characteristics of fufu analogue from breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), International Journal of Food Science and Technology 47(2):332–340 (abstract via Europe PMC/AGRICOLA)

Also called imikembe.

Imikembe is a Burundian household food of cassava roots that are peeled, boiled and broken up to remove the fibres, then left to ferment under water for about a week, with the water changed every two days. The sour cassava is eaten with beans and other legumes.

1. Peel, wash and boil the roots
2. Break up and remove the fibres
3. Ferment under water, changing the water every two days7 days

Safety: Cassava holds compounds that release cyanide, and simple boiling does not reliably remove them [fao1990]. The Codex code of practice keeps direct cooking for low-cyanide sweet cassava, because these compounds survive heat [codex-rcp73]. No study we found measured cyanide in imikembe, so use only roots known to be low in cyanide. Bitterness is not necessarily a reliable guide to cyanide content [fao1990]. Do not cut the week under water short, and throw away the changed water.

• Aloys N., Angeline N. 2009, Traditional fermented foods and beverages in Burundi, Food Research International 42(5–6):588–594, doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2009.02.021 (abstract via Europe PMC/AGRICOLA; the process details come from FermDB's summary of this paper)
• FermDB (Bokulich lab, ETH Zurich), FermDB_data.tsv row 'Imikembe' (citing Aloys and Angeline 2009), CC BY 4.0, read 2026-10
• FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)
• Codex Alimentarius, CAC/RCP 73-2013, Code of practice for the reduction of hydrocyanic acid (HCN) in cassava and cassava products (copy hosted by the Slovenian food administration)

Also called inyange.

Inyange is a Burundian cassava flour made by heap fermentation. Cut cassava is sun-dried for a day, piled under plantain leaves or straw for five days until mould covers it, then scraped, dried again and pounded into a slightly dark flour.

1. Peel, wash and cut into pieces
2. Sun-dry24 h
3. Heap, cover with plantain leaves or straw, and ferment5 days
4. Scrape off the mould, sun-dry again and pound

Safety: Cassava holds compounds that release cyanide. In the one study of inyange, from Makamba Province, hydrogen cyanide fell from 87.94 to 1.36 mg/kg, under the 10 mg/kg FAO/WHO level for flour [makamba2026]. Fresh roots can hold up to 400 mg/kg [fao1990], so that result does not prove the method clears more toxic roots. The heap is meant to grow mould. The same study detected no aflatoxins, but it did not name the moulds or test for other mycotoxins, and it asks for care in storage [makamba2026]. WHO says mould can grow deep into food and that most mycotoxins survive food processing [who-mycotoxins], so scraping off the mould and cooking the flour cannot be counted on to remove them.

• World Health Organization, Mycotoxins (fact sheet)
• FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)
• Aloys N., Angeline N. 2009, Traditional fermented foods and beverages in Burundi, Food Research International 42(5–6):588–594, doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2009.02.021 (abstract via Europe PMC/AGRICOLA; the process details come from FermDB's summary of this paper)
• Niyukuri J., Sindayikengera S. et al. 2026, Influence of traditional methods of preparing cassava flour on the content of hydrogen cyanide, proteins and aflatoxins in Burundi - Inyange, Ikivunde and Akambaranga in Makamba Province, Food and Nutrition Sciences 17(2), doi:10.4236/fns.2026.172011
• FermDB (Bokulich lab, ETH Zurich), FermDB_data.tsv row 'Inyange' (citing Aloys and Angeline 2009), CC BY 4.0, read 2026-10

Also called kokonte, chorchor (home-made type), konkonte, face-the-wall, dried cassava chips.

Kokonte is cassava peeled, cut into pieces and dried, in the sun or smoke-dried over a fire. The dried pieces are ground into a flour that is stirred into boiling water to make a brown dough. In a related Ugandan method, heap fermentation under moulds, most of the cassava's cyanide was removed.

1. Peel and cut the roots
2. Dry in the sun or over a fire
3. Store dry
4. Mill and stir into boiling water

Safety: Cassava must lose its cyanogens before it is eaten. In Uganda, heap fermentation under moulds cut total cyanogens from 436.3 to 20.4 mg CN equivalents per kg, much more than sun-drying alone, but not always to safe levels; mould growth itself lowered cyanogenic glucosides further in the lab. Plain sun-drying removes only 60 to 70 % of the cyanide and can leave 30 to 100 mg/kg in dry roots [fao1990], so dried chips are not safe just because they are dry. Moulds bring a risk too. Aspergillus flavus, an aflatoxin producer, was one of the three most predominant moulds in market kokonte flour. That Ghanaian study did not test for the toxin; a Ugandan study of heap-fermented flour found none. WHO says most mould toxins survive food processing, so do not rely on cooking to remove them [who-mycotoxins]. Dry the pieces well and keep the flour at 12 % moisture or less.

• FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)
• Al-Hassan R., Egyir I., ch. 7, The potential for farm/non-farm linkages in the cassava subsector in Ghana, FAO
• Essers A.J., Ebong C., van der Grift R.M., Nout M.J., Otim-Nape W., Rosling H. 1995, Reducing cassava toxicity by heap-fermentation in Uganda, International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 46(2):125–136, doi:10.3109/09637489509012540 (abstract)
• Essers A.J., Jurgens C.M., Nout M.J. 1995, Contribution of selected fungi to the reduction of cyanogen levels during solid substrate fermentation of cassava, International Journal of Food Microbiology 26(2):251–257, doi:10.1016/0168-1605(94)00116-n (abstract)
• Awaitey B.T., Mills-Robertson F.C. 2017, Filamentous fungi in selected processed indigenous flours sold in Kumasi, Ghana, Food & Nutrition Journal 2(6):146
• Wikipedia, Kokonte (outline only)
• WHO, Mycotoxins fact sheet (2 October 2023)

Also called ポッチェイモ, ペネイモ, potce-imo, pene-imo, munin-imo, muninimo-sito.

Penne-imo, also called potche-imo, is an Ainu food made from potatoes left buried in snow over winter, where they freeze and thaw again and again and begin to ferment. In spring the soft potatoes are peeled, crushed and washed in water, and the starch that settles is dried and stored. It is later soaked, kneaded into cakes and grilled.

1. Leave potatoes under snow over winter
2. Peel, crush and wash repeatedly in a tub of water
3. Strain and dry the starch for storage
4. Soak, knead, shape and grill

• ja.wikipedia, ポッチェイモ (citing Kyoto Shimbun 2017, Ainu-language radio course texts and the Teikoku Databank museum), read 2026-10
• Walkerplus, アイヌの保存食はどんな味? (Lake Akan Ainu restaurant that serves potche-imo)

Also called pupuru, ikwurikwu (reported), pupuru flour.

Pupuru is a cassava staple of the Ilaje and other riverine peoples of south-west Nigeria. Cassava is fermented under water, the mash is pressed in sacks, picked free of fibre and moulded into balls, which are dried over a wood fire in smoke. The smoked balls are milled into flour and cooked into a swallow eaten with fish soup.

1. Peel, cut and ferment under water4–6 days
2. Press in sacks, pick out fibre and mould into balls
3. Smoke-dry over a wood fire
4. Store the balls
5. Mill, sieve and cook into a swallow

Safety: Market pupuru flour can carry aflatoxin. A study of markets in Ondo State found aflatoxins in 4 of 10 pooled pupuru samples, at 1.75 to 21 µg/kg. The top of that range passes the 10 µg/kg limit adopted in Nigeria for total aflatoxins [maduka2024]. A review reports an earlier survey of market pupuru flour in Okitipupa at 0.96 to 8.1 µg/kg, below that limit [maduka2024]. Cassava also holds compounds that release cyanide. A survey cited on this page reports 2 to 33 mg HCN equivalent/kg in smoked balls. The top of that range is above the 10 mg/kg Codex level for edible cassava flour [fsanz-p1002]. No source we read gives a time under water that brings it below that level.

• FSANZ, Proposal P1002, Hydrocyanic acid in ready-to-eat cassava chips, final report (gives the 10 mg/kg level in the Codex standard for edible cassava flour)
• Ekpakpale D.O., Kraak B., Meijer M., Ayeni K.I., Houbraken J., Ezekiel C.N. 2021, Fungal diversity and aflatoxins in maize and rice grains and cassava-based flour (pupuru) from Ondo State, Nigeria, Journal of Fungi 7(8):635
• Maduka N., Ugbogu O.C. 2024, A review on microorganisms and mycotoxin contamination of selected 'swallow meals', potential health risks to consumers, Heliyon 10(20):e39311 (citing Teniola et al. on stored pupuru balls)
• Shittu et al. 2003, Processing technology of pupuru, a survey of practices and production quality in the South West of Nigeria, ASSET Series B (FUNAAB); site in maintenance in 2026-10
• BusinessDay Nigeria, Obe aselu asepo ati pupuru

Also called ubuswage, ubswage.

Ubuswage is a cassava paste from the south of Burundi. Peeled roots are boiled and freed of fibre, soaked in water for two weeks to ferment, boiled again in fresh water, then pounded into a paste that is shaped into a ball and wrapped in plantain leaves.

1. Peel, wash, boil and defibre
2. Soak in water to ferment14 days
3. Boil again in fresh water
4. Pound to a paste, form a ball and wrap in plantain leaves

Safety: Raw cassava releases hydrogen cyanide, a poison. Food Standards Australia New Zealand warns that boiling removes only 10–75 % of the compounds that form it in the roots and is not reliable on its own. No study we found measures cyanide in ubuswage, so these steps record household practice and are not a tested way to make cassava safe.

• Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Cassava and bamboo shoots
• Aloys N., Angeline N. 2009, Traditional fermented foods and beverages in Burundi, Food Research International 42(5–6):588–594, doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2009.02.021 (abstract via Europe PMC/AGRICOLA; the process details come from FermDB's summary of this paper)
• FermDB (Bokulich lab, ETH Zurich), FermDB_data.tsv row 'Ubuswage' (citing Aloys and Angeline 2009), CC BY 4.0, read 2026-10