A fufu machine is a kitchen appliance used to pound cooked starchy vegetables, particularly cassava, plantains, or yams, into the West and Central African staple food fufu.
Fufu machines can achieve the fine, dough-like, pasty texture of fufu in about one minute; traditional hand-pounding methods generally required at least 30 minutes for the same result. [1][2]
Development
The first fufu machine was developed in 2004 by Ghanaian electrical-equipment dealer Fadegnom Charles, who produced small numbers of electric fufu machines for local consumption.[2] A mass-marketable design by a team led by Professor Kwadeo Kesse, Dr Lawrence Ansong and R.E Doddoo at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) was released shortly thereafter.[1] The machine saw significant adoption in both homes and small businesses in Accra by 2014.[3]
In 2017, a Togolese entrepreneur named Logou Minsob successfully invented the model Foufoumix which allows for efficient mixing of the fufu into a well-set texture and consistency.[4]
