Garri

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Synthesised from Google · Yelp · TripAdvisor · Reddit · 2 food blogs · Updated August 2026

The story the reviews tell

Garri is a cassava flour with a humble purpose: transform a potentially toxic root into sustenance through heat. Ranging from coarse to fine, this West African staple gets mixed into water—hot or cold—to become the backbone of daily meals across Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, and beyond. The heat that makes garri safe also locks in the cassava's fiber, copper, and magnesium, turning a simple grain into something nourishing.

What makes this version distinct

In West Africa, garri ( ; also known as gari, galli, or gali) is a flour, varying in texture from coarse to fine, made from fresh, starchy cassava root. As the preparation process involves heat, it helps to remove the thermolabile cyanohydrin toxins naturally produced by cassava plants. Garri is similar to the cassava-derived farinha de mandioca from Brazil, which is used in many food preparations, including farofa, particularly in the Nordeste region. Cassava is rich in fiber, copper, and magnesium. In the Hausa language, garri can also refer to flours made from other crops, such as guinea corn, maize, rice, yam, plantain and millet. For example, garin dawa is made from guinea corn, garin masara and garin alkama originate from maize and wheat respectively, and garin magani is a powdered herbal medicine. Such flours mixed with cold or hot water form a staple part of the diet in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroon and Liberia.

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