Last updated on October 31st, 2026 at 06:00 pm
Cassava products reach far beyond garri and fufu, turning one starchy root into breads, snacks, sweeteners, tablet binders, and even biodegradable plastics. This list covers 47 of them by category, each with a note and a link to its guide.
I process cassava into garri, akpu, flour, and starch on a small scale in, Abia State, Nigeria, for my household and buyers.
At home, I have also made boba pearls, starch chips, puffs, tapioca porridge, and Brazilian cheese bread.
This list gathers every major food and industrial product made from the root, from Nigerian staples to modern factory ingredients.
Leftovers such as peels, pulp, and processing water are not included, because they are residues rather than products made on purpose.
Each entry carries a short description and a link to its full guide on this site for deeper practical reading.
Table of Contents
What Counts as a Product Here?
A product here means anything deliberately made from the root or leaves, for eating, cooking, or industrial use.
Peels, starch pulp, and wastewater are by-products, the leftovers that processing creates while making these goods.
Those residues have their own guides, from the cassava peel hub to the starch pulp market.
Every list of cassava products starts with the root itself, which is introduced in the cassava guide.
How each product fits into the wider economy is set out in what the cassava value chain is.
Cassava Products in Nigerian and African Kitchens
These are the foods my community eats most, and garri, akpu, and yam filled our plates while I grew up.
Wikipedia’s list of cassava-based dishes describes eba as grated, pressed, fermented, fried cassava mixed with boiling water.
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garri | Grated, pressed, fermented, and roasted granules | What garri is |
| 2 | Akpu (fufu) | Soaked, fermented, sieved paste cooked into a swallow | What fufu is |
| 3 | Abacha | Boiled, sliced, soaked, and sun-dried shreds | Traditional processing methods |
| 4 | Lafun | Fermented flour cooked into amala lafun | The fermentation flour method |
| 5 | Usi | Starch stirred with boiled water into a stretchy swallow | Sweet cassava starch |
| 6 | Chikwangue | Fermented paste wrapped in leaves and steamed | Cassava sticks and chikwangue |
| 7 | Ngwa garri-mash balls | Pressed mash rolled into balls and fried in palm oil | Traditional processing methods |
| 8 | Leaf dishes | Pounded, thoroughly cooked leaves in soups and stews | Cassava leaves guide |
Usi belongs to the Urhobo, Isoko, and Edo peoples, and some buyers of my starch cook it regularly.
Flours and Starches
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Cassava flour | Whole peeled root, dried, milled, and sieved | Cassava flour pillar |
| 10 | High quality flour (HQCF) | Quick-dried, unfermented flour for industry | High quality flour guide |
| 11 | Tapioca starch | Starch washed from grated root, settled, and dried | Making tapioca starch |
| 12 | Sweet starch (polvilho doce) | Native starch dried without fermenting | Sweet cassava starch |
| 13 | Sour starch (polvilho azedo) | Starch fermented for weeks, then sun-dried | Sour cassava starch |
| 14 | Instant tapioca | Partly cooked granules for thickening pies | What instant tapioca is |
| 15 | Modified and resistant starch | Physically or chemically treated starches | Modified tapioca starch |
My flour is triple-sieved after milling, while my starch settles overnight and dries slowly in a low oven.
Manufacturers rely on these starches for texture, as the article on cassava starch in food manufacturing shows.
Resistant forms are covered separately in the guide to resistant tapioca starch.
Snacks
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Fried cassava chips | Thin root rounds fried until crisp | Crunchy fried cassava chips |
| 17 | Tapioca or cassava sticks | Thin root batons soaked briefly, then fried | Tapioca sticks recipe |
| 18 | Yuca fries | Thick boiled batons, fried or baked | Making yuca fries |
| 19 | Tapioca chips | Steamed starch dough, sliced, dried, and puffed | Tapioca chips recipe |
| 20 | Tapioca puffs | Starch dough balls dried and fried | Tapioca puffs recipe |
| 21 | Flour chips | Baked crackers made from cassava flour | Cassava flour chips |
| 22 | Krupuk | Indonesian tapioca crackers with prawn or garlic | Tapioca snacks roundup |
| 23 | Cireng, cilok, and cimol | West Javan tapioca street snacks | Tapioca snacks roundup |
| 24 | Sabudana vada | Indian fritters of tapioca pearls and potato | Tapioca snacks roundup |
Of these, I have made the starch chips and the puffs, and both needed a few test batches.
Ngwa households rarely fry the root itself, so the chip, stick, and fry recipes follow published sources.
Breads and Baked Goods
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Pão de queijo | Brazilian cheese bread made from starch | Tapioca recipes for meals |
| 26 | Chipa | Paraguayan cheese roll of starch and anise | Tapioca snacks roundup |
| 27 | Pan de yuca | Starch and cheese bread from Ecuador and Colombia | Tapioca snacks roundup |
| 28 | Bammy | Jamaican flatbread of pressed grated root | Uses for grated cassava |
| 29 | Cassava bread | Flat, crisp bread made from grated root | Cassava bread guide |
| 30 | Sandwich bread | A soft loaf baked with cassava flour | Cassava flour bread recipe |
| 31 | Bread rolls | Small, soft rolls made from flour | Cassava flour bread rolls |
| 32 | Brownies | Fudgy, gluten-free chocolate squares | Cassava flour brownies |
| 33 | Pie crust | A flaky, gluten-free pastry shell | Cassava pie crust |
My own cheese bread, made with home-processed starch, came out with exactly the chew it should have.
I also bake chin-chin and buns at home with my triple-sieved flour.
Desserts and Drinks
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | Tapioca pearls (boba) | Chewy starch balls for bubble tea and puddings | Tapioca pearls guide |
| 35 | Tapioca porridge | Small pearls simmered in milk | Tapioca recipes for meals |
| 36 | Tapioca pudding | Pearls cooked into a sweet custard | Tapioca recipes for meals |
| 37 | Sabudana kheer | Indian pudding of pearls in sweetened milk | Tapioca pearls explained |
| 38 | Filipino cassava cake | Grated root baked with coconut milk | Uses for grated cassava |
| 39 | Brazilian tapioca crepe | Moistened starch fused into a thin disc | Tapioca recipes for meals |
Homemade boba from my own starch kept its round form and chew, though bubble tea stays an occasional treat for me.
Sweeteners
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Tapioca syrup | A mild syrup made from cassava starch | Tapioca syrup uses |
| 41 | Glucose and related sweeteners | Starch broken down by enzymes into sugars | Cassava sweeteners guide |
Enzymes break the starch into simple sugars, producing syrups used in drinks, confectionery, and baking.
Industrial Products and Animal Feed
| # | Product | What it is | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | Ethanol and biofuel | Fuel alcohol fermented from cassava | Cassava ethanol guide |
| 43 | Bioplastics and bags | Biodegradable films and packaging | Cassava starch bioplastics |
| 44 | Adhesives and glues | Starch-based binders for wood, paper, and labels | Starch-based adhesives |
| 45 | Paper and textile sizing | Starch that strengthens paper and yarn | Starch in papermaking |
| 46 | Pharmaceutical and cosmetic starch | Tablet binders, powders, and skin products | Starch in pharmaceuticals |
| 47 | Animal feed | Dried chips and pellets in livestock rations | Cassava in animal feeds |
A 2025 study in Foods found cassava starch raised protein digestibility in peanut-based meat analogs to 83 percent.
Nigeria produced about 62.7 million tonnes of cassava in 2023, yet holds only about 2 percent of global processing, BusinessDay reported.
Biodegradable carrier bags are covered in the article on cassava bags, and dried chips for feed appear under cassava chips and pellets.
Textile uses are explained in the guide to starch in textile manufacturing, and cosmetic uses under starch in cosmetics.
Every industrial use is mapped in the pillar on industrial uses of cassava starch.
Conclusion
Cassava products range from garri, akpu, and abacha to tapioca pearls, cheese breads, sweeteners, and bioplastics.
Flour keeps the whole root, while starch becomes pearls, crackers, syrups, and dozens of useful factory ingredients.
Peels, pulp, and wastewater are by-products, so they belong in their own separate guides rather than this list.
Nigeria grows enormous volumes of cassava yet processes only a small share, leaving room for new products and businesses.
To buy cassava flour or tapioca starch made in Ntigha, or to ask processing questions, message Cassava Pathway on WhatsApp.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main products made from cassava?
The main ones are garri, fufu, cassava flour, tapioca starch, and chips for feed and export.
Starch then becomes pearls, syrups, adhesives, bioplastics, and many other manufactured goods.
Are cassava peels and pulp products or by-products?
They are by-products, the leftovers created while making garri, flour, or starch from peeled roots.
Many still find value as animal feed, compost, or feedstock for biogas production.
What is the difference between cassava flour and tapioca starch?
Cassava flour uses the whole peeled root, while tapioca starch is only the starch washed out.
Flour keeps more fiber, and starch gives chewier, stretchier results in cooking.
Which products can a small business start with?
Garri, cassava flour, and tapioca starch suit beginners, because they need modest equipment and sell locally.
My own small business sells flour and starch made through batch processing.
23. Cassava Flour Tortillas
Chimeremeze Emeh is a tropical crop farmer and chemical engineer from Ntigha, Isiala Ngwa North LGA, Abia State, Eastern Nigeria, specializing in cassava and palm oil, with over 30 years of hands-on experience growing, harvesting, and processing cassava. He grows TMS series, TME 419, and local traditional varieties on his own farms and operates a small-scale cassava flour and starch production business through Cassava Pathway, which he founded as a CAMA-registered agribusiness in 2024. He is also the founder of Palm Oil Pathway, where he applies the same tropical farming expertise. His farms are located in Ntigha, Abia State.