The fate of cyanogens during the cooking of cassava in mumu, a traditional oven in Papua New Guinea

Summary Four (Alotau, Mt. Hagen, Goroka, and Rabaul) types of mumu (earth-oven) in Papua New Guinea were evaluated to ascertain their potential to detoxify cassava. The acid hydrolysis method was used for the determination of cyanogens. Each mumu exhibited different detoxification capacity. The loss of cyanogens in the (coconut) creamed cassava dough was lower than in the uncreamed dough. This was more evident when coconut cream–cassava mixture was cooked in boiling water than in a conventional oven set at 180 °C. Certain interactions were suspected to exist between the coconut cream and cyanogens or between the coconut cream and the appropriate enzymes that are responsible for the hydrolysis of the cyanogens. Such interactions resisted the loss of cyanogens and/or their quantification by the analytical method. The results are discussed in the light of nutritional consequences of such interactions, as coconut cream is a popular dietary item in Papua New Guinea (and the South Pacific islands).