It was investigated the effect of natural fermentation of cassava, alone or combined with cooking in boiling water on the crispness of cassava chips. The thin slices of cassava, originally from previously peeled and cleaned roots were submerged in drinkable water at 30ºC during periods of 8h and 24h. The whole cassava roots, also peeled and cleaned were submitted on the same conditions, but for longer periods: 24h, 30h and 48h, after those roots were sliced and fried. The natural fermentation was conducted without any fermentative agent, only submerging one part of thin slices or whole roots into four parts of drinkable water at 30ºC in a controlled temperature incubator. The other variables studied were: cassava variety and slice format. The effect of the treatments was evaluated, based on the friability of the chips as measured by the Texture Analyzer TA.XT2. The format of the slices appeared to be an important factor, because it affected texture characteristics of the chips, as well as the actual treatments. The rectangular format, although attractive, was considered inadequate for the manufacture of chips, the round format being suggested as more suitable. It was shown that the natural fermentation of the whole roots or cut into thin slices, alone or combined with boiling was considered an inadequate technique to obtain crispness cassava chips, since in general, such treatments increased the hardness of the chips, as compared to the untreated samples. This observations were valuable from all the studied varieties: IAC Mantiqueira, IAC 576.70, IAC 13 and IAC 14.
cassava chips; processing; fermentation; crispness
