Yam

Dioscorea spp.

root · vegetable

Large, rough-skinned tubers with floury flesh from tropical vines, a staple of West Africa and Asia; boiled, pounded or fried, always cooked. 100 g provide 4 g of fibre and 17 mg of vitamin C.

Origin

West Africa and Asia

Season (United States)

imported · all year round

Preparation

The skin is removed — with gloves if it makes your hands itch. Always cooked: raw, it is indigestible, and several wild varieties are outright irritant. Cooking settles both.

Did you know?

Depending on the variety, its flesh is white, cream or mauve: in the Philippines, ube, a winged yam, is grown for its purple tubers.