YAM FLOUR PRODUCTION
I will be sharing ideas on how to add value to agricultural products and various business potential that abound with each food products.
Our first article will be on yam. Why yam first you may ask, maybe because pounded yam is my best food or maybe Nigeria is the largest producer of yam in the world, anyways let’s move on to business.
YAM (Dioscorea spp).
Yam, as we may already know, is root and tuber. There are various varieties of yam, the popular species in Nigeria are
White yam (Dioscorea rotundata)
Water yam (Dioscorea alata)
Yellow yam (Dioscorea cayensis)
Bitter yam (Dioscorea dumetorum).
Yam is a rich source of water, Carbohydrate, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Manganese, Essential amino acid such as Phenylalanine and Threomine.
Yam a raw material to other food products can be sourced in large quantities from the following states in Nigeria: Benue, Niger, Taraba, Nasarawa, Kogi, Oyo, Ondo, and Delta.
Yam Flour (Elubo), Instant pounded yam flour (Poundo yam flour), Yam fries are major food products that can be gotten from processed yam.
YAM FLOUR
Yam flour (off-white fine flour) also known as Elubo is used to prepare Amala. Amala is mostly consumed by the Yoruba people from the south-west of Nigeria.
Ikokoro and white yam are the major varieties of yam used in yam flour production. Physically damage yams can also be used to prevent food wastage/food loss.
Equipment used for yam flour processing are Slicing Machine, Per-boilers, Dryers (Cabinet/Flash), milling machine (Hammermill with cyclone), sifting machines, sealers, packaging machines, bowls, knives, scoops and weighing scale.
YAM FLOUR PRODUCTION FLOW CHART
Cleaning: Clean to remove sand and dirt
Peeling: Peel manually using knives
Slicing: Slice peeled yam tubers into uniform size chips. This is to enable the chips to dry faster at the same time and temperature.
Cleaning: Clean/Rinse chips with water
Drying: Dry yam chips in a cabinet dryer. Ensure yam chips are properly dried.
Milling: Mill dried chips into a fine flour using a hammer mill
Cooling: Cool milled flour before packaging to reduce the heat generated as a result of milling
Sieving: Sieve to remove particles
Packaging: Package yam flour in different sizes (1kg, 2kg, 5kg, and 10kg) seal and label
Your packaged yam flour can be sold to individuals, supermarkets, schools, restaurants, hotels, and caterers. Yam flour can also be exported to other countries.
Zaynab Adejokun Idris
• 4 years agoHello,
I really love your write up on yam flour.Very educative. It reminds me of my days in school as a student of food technology. You are doing a wonderful job.
Shola Oladejo
• 4 years agoThank you. Good to know you are a food technologist too
Alfred Buba
• 4 years agoHi Shola, thanks for your write-ups/website. I want to start a small scale yam flour processing factory…but I have noticed that in the US markets, the price of yam flour is about the same with the price of the tubers. Considering all the labor, machinery, time, risk, and patients, why is the flour and the tubers about the same price?
Shola Oladejo
• 4 years agoHello Alfred, Ii is a nice idea to start a small scale yam flour processing factory. A lot of factors might affect the price of both flour and yam. Yams here in Nigeria are seasonal, hence they are very cheap during harvest and expensive during the planting season. As a manufacturer of yam flour, you might want to buy your major raw material when it is very cheap and directly from the farmers. Secondly, people buy yam flour because of convenience, ease of preparation and longer shelf life.
Kiki
• 4 years agoPlease shola do I need to parboile yam before I dry it
Shola Oladejo
• 4 years agoFor yam flour production, No you don’t have to parboil before dying.
Funmi
• 4 years agoHello Shola. Pls How do you know the real yam flour. What does gbodo look like? I want to go into small scale packaging, I just got sample now but small small yam.
Bukola
• 4 years agoPlease is elubo and poundo yam processing (production method) the same and if not same,what’s the difference?
Shola Oladejo
• 4 years agoIn yam flour production the yam slices are not not parboiled before drying while in Pondo yam production, the yam slices are parboiled before drying.
Joan
• 3 years agoHelpful
Kiki
• 3 years agoThanks for your articles, they are so inspiring. Please Which type of yam is the best for pundo yam production
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoWhite yams are the best
Tijesuni
• 3 years agoThank you miss shola
Am a student in my second year
Am studying Food Science and Technology
Your post helped me with my assignment
I hope to learn more from you in the future
Thank you
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoThank you, I wish you all the best in your studies.
Etinosa ikpo
• 3 years agoThank you so much for this article I gained alot how do i ensure my yam powder is not black and is there an advantage of pre boiling the yam chips before drying to drying d chips directly
Etinosa ikpo
• 3 years agoPlease I read through some pondoyam package and I saw food starch as part if the content please what is that is its advantage
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoWe have sent you an email
Kome
• 3 years agoHow long will it take to perboiler the yam
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoThe timing depends on a lot of factors example the temperature at which you are par-boiling.
Hi Shola, do you know of any major African market that is in need of fresh yams ? I can export that at anytime soon. Thank you
• 3 years agoHi Shola, do you know of any major African market that is in need of fresh yams ? I can export that at anytime soon. Thank you
Benita
• 3 years agoPlease I tried poundo yam and it came out perfectly,but my yam flour is brownish in color Instead of the off-white look.
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoPoundo yam is white supposed to by white or off white in colour. while yam flour is brownish.
Akua Tannor
• 3 years agoHello Shola, what causes the brownish color? and should i parboil when making yam flour?
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoWhat causes brownish color is called enzymatic browning. In making yam flour you don’t need to parboil
Martha
• 3 years agoAunty shola what if it is not white yam I use?
Learner
• 3 years agoHi Shola, I often see families dry the back (peels) of yam and they say it’s Amala they want to make. For A it work too? I’m curious, i have yam peels and i loke Amala and Elubo . Can I achieve it?
Shola Oladejo
• 3 years agoPlease do not use yam peels for Elubo.