A simple and rapid procedure for the assay of the cyanogenic glucoside in cassava preparations has been developed. The HCN is liberated by autolysis of the ground tissue followed by distillation with acid into sodium carbonate solution, and estimated from the orange colour developed with picric acid. The reproducibility and reliability of the assay was evaluated using plant material and aqueous extracts of the glucoside. Storage of plant tissue and extracts at −20° diminishes the rate of breakdown of the glucoside. Values were obtained for the HCN content of peeled cassava tuber, cassava leaves, cassava peel, konkonte flour and garri. More than 100% variation was found between the content of neighbouring sectors of the same tuber. It was confirmed that the peel is a rich source of glucoside.
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Benjamin Wood (1965) studied this question.