The knowledge of the suitability and acceptability of different cassava varieties for highly demanded products like gari/eba might contribute to reducing the challenges of how breeders will balance the requirements of farmers with those of processors and end-users in terms of their preferred quality traits, which is one of the objectives of the RTBfoods project; thus, this review may be of help. Gari is a dry, crispy, creamy-white or yellow, granular flour (semolina) obtained from cassava roots. It is usually consumed in the uncooked form, or added with water, sugar, groundnuts, and cashew nuts, or cooked into a dough called eba—the most widely eaten form in some Africa countries like Nigeria, Togo, and the Benin Republic. Eba is made by sprinkling gari into a bowl or pot of boiled water and continue stirring until dough is formed. Eba is served with vegetable soup and fish or meat. Most households widely purchase gari because of its quick ability to make eba without going through any form of stress.

The acceptability of gari/eba by consumers varies with regional preferences; nevertheless, some relationships can be observed between the functional and pasting properties and the chemical composition of the gari with the acceptability. For instance, a significant positive correlation exists between the water absorption capacity (WAC) of gari and the overall acceptability of the eba. Also, the mouldability and mouthfeel of the eba were positively correlated with the WAC of the gari. The bulk density of gari was positively correlated with the mouldability of the eba. The setback viscosity of gari (RVA measurement) was negatively correlated with the sensory texture of the eba. The carbohydrate contents of gari have significant positive correlations with all the sensory attributes, and the cyanogenic potential content had a significant negative correlation with the aroma. The sweet taste of gari could be attributed to the relatively high reducing sugar and low hydrogen cyanide contents of the fresh cassava roots.

As a result of the relationship between the sensory attributes of gari and the carbohydrate (starch) and cyanogenic potential (CNP) contents of the raw roots, breeders should work more on increasing the starch and decreasing the CNP contents of the roots. Also, the gap in the texture of the gari/eba could be attributed to the differences in the production of gari from one location to another.  Hence, there is a need for further study to establish the different textural attributes of gari/eba based on the available cassava varieties in different ecological zones.