When you talk about preparation of food in the homes and eateries, women are more engaged. Women are the ones whose expertise is needed because that is their work.
Lately, the issue of adulterated loi loi went viral with speculations that it was prepared with detergents and other substances to enable it ferment faster.
But can that be true? Women, especially should be able to identify good fufu consumption and sold in the market or in shops.
The truth is that every product has its expiry date. It is not factory produced but locally, producers in the rural areas know when and how long a particular produce should last.
I equally know that there are certain specie of cassava that do not last for long so should be consumed as quickly as possible.
Storing fufu in a refrigerator may not even be the best, sometimes, their expiration may be noticed through the smell after several days of prodction.
Production of loi loi is not peculiar with one ethnic group. Many regions produce cassava to prepare garri and fufu.
Fufu, loi loi, akpu as you may call it is got from cassava. Cassava is normally uprooted from it iss stem planted in farms. There are other food items that can be gotten from cassava. They are garri when it is fried and tapioca “nkpuru jakwu”. Some call it “abacha.” We also have cassava cake “akra jakwu” which is fried with palm oil.
Actually, loi loi or fufu is not produced by Etche people alone. It can be found in many villages and towns of Nigeria especially where cassava planting is practised.
In Rivers State, majority of the upland towns and  villages like the Ikwerres, Ogonis, Ogbas, Ahoadas and others that cannot be mentioned here who practise agriculture also produce cassava, which is for preparation of  loi loi.
When we were younger in the village, there were mainly two ways of preparing fufu. After uprooting cassava from the farm, you send it into the river (flowing stream) where a space was created while using something remarkable, like a stick to indicate the position where you were depositing it.
Another way was putting cassava inside a bag well tied so as to prevent the tubers from scattering inside the river. The bag was tied to a stick so that it would not flow with water.  This method also helps to distinguish one person’s own from another. It was really a means of easy identification.  This was the original way of soaking cassava that can be used to prepare fufu.
For those parts of Etche communities and other towns which never had rivers (streams), they used to put cassava tubers into containers, may be plastic or pots to be allowed for days to ferment. Whether cassava is deposited into the (rivers) flowing streams or they are soaked in containers at home, they are supposed to be kept for at least, a couple of five (5) to seven (7) days for fermentation to take place.
At the end of those number of days, you are expected to go to the river to wash and filter into a bag with small metal-made sieve “ekete” to enable you remove the chaffs.
With the help of bag, dropped on the dry space off the stream, water will drip little by little until it becomes a little solid before taking it home.
The same method applies to the ones kept at home.
These recent speculations that women use detergents for cassava to ferment faster call for concern and should be looked into.
For cassava that was soaked at home in containers, no detergent was used to soften it. It would rather get dissolved on its own. Even these days that some rivers have gone dry, majority of Etche women soak cassava in containers without the use of detergents. You could also put it at home. They prepare them naturally. I have never seen anywhere in Etche or other parts where detergent was used to ease fermentation of cassava and where that is practised.
When I interviewed, a farmer from Kpite, Tai, Mrs Lebari Christian, about the use of detergent in soaking fufu, she said she had no idea about it.
She said naturally, cassava that is soaked for five to seven days should get soft on its own.
Another farmer from Ipo in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Mrs. Nkesi Woha, said sometimes, they grind cassava after soaking for two days because of the specie.
According to her, some cassava need to be ground so as to ferment easily due to the specie. Then, it would be soaked for another two days for fermentation. But even then, that does not mean that detergent or any other substance is applied in that regard.
I also discovered that some grind cassava before soaking it to get soft within some days. I understand that certain specie of cassava do not get soft easily, hence, the idea of grinding after being soaked for two days.
Before now, there was a way of cooking loi loi or fufu without turning it in a frying pot. One way of doing that was: you get a required quantity of your fresh prepared (filtered) cassava ready in a bowl.
You cut into your palms and mould into desired sizes. Put the moulded sizes into a boiling water in a pot and allow to boil for 20 to 30 minutes. Use spoon to remove into a morter and use pestle to do justice to it. After pounding till it gets soft, you mould again and return it into the boiling water, the initial water and allow to boil for about 15 minutes as the case may be.
Bring it out into the morter the second time and pound till it becomes smooth for swallow. One interesting fact is that, you can add little water while pounding to make it soft. You can cut with your hand or knife to serve.
With that system, every Etche household or other tribes who prepare and consume fufu had and still have at least one moderate sized morter and pestle for pounding fufu.
There is something noticeable in that regard, the water used in cooking the fufu is normally whitish. As if certain substance is allowed to boil and removed from the cassava.
There is another method of cooking or preparing loi loi or fufu. This is a method where you place a frying pot on fire. Add water and allow the water to boil. Add the wet cassava little by little and continue to turn till it is cooked. In this method, nothing is removed like substance from the cassava. Sometimes the women rub palm oil in the frying pot to avoid loi loi sticking to the pot. While you consume fufu, you may find out that some contain little palm oil.
The difference between this method and earlier one is that, in the earlier one, whitish substance is removed as it is cooked before pounding.
The uniqueness of pounded loi loi and the “turning” in the pot is clear.  That of pounding lasts longer than the turning.
Before now, after pounding fufu using the morter and pestle, you can use your hand to cut or a kitchen knife to cut to sizes.
Those days, loi loi or fufu was not tied with nylon. I think the idea of tying or packaging with nylon, now adays to make it portable for easy distribution.
All the loi loi consumed in the city come from different parts of the country with different ways of preparation so that one ethnic region should not be blamed for disaffection.
I discovered in a city outside Port Harcourt where raw fermented cassava loaded in bags was displayed in front of several shops.  Those ones would have been there for a week or more.  The women were preparing hot fufu from it publicly while people were patronising.
Some of them last for weeks. Definitely, they will start developing smelling odour. Since it is not factory produced, it should last for a few days.
Fufu should not also be eaten cold, women as a matter of fact, should ensure that fufu is warmed before serving.  Eateries should also take note.
Fufu, like garri comes into Port Harcourt from other nearby States. There are designated points where distributors offload the ones that are not produced in Rivers State.
Market women or consumers of fufu should be able to identify well prepared one at sight.
You can have a feeling of it before buying.
With good  loi loi from any part of Rivers State, particularly,  you can serve with soup or pepper soup.

Eunice Choko-Kayode