There are so many internet articles on what is ube or purple yam and it's increasing popularity that I thought I knew so much about the Filipino ube. Turns out I do not and perhaps a lot of you don't as well.
What is ube?
Armed with my online photo of an ube (pronounced as oo-be), I started looking for the physical ube at the usual places. Among the 4 Filipino stores that I visited, not a single one had fresh ube. I think mainly because it is no longer ube harvest season in Philippines which is around December. And so I went to Chinatown London to continue my ube hunt. This time, in the 3 Oriental fresh produce shops there were loads of purple looking tubers and so I bought one of each. Surfing the net again to figure out which of my purchases is the real ube, I soon realised though that a lot of online articles tag purple potatoes as ube!
The real ube tuber is brown skinned, quite rough to touch and almost similar to a bark of a tree. Only when you try to scratch its skin, purple goodness is revealed.
Ube's popularity and what ube tastes like
Ube is a beautiful purple tuber that is mainly grown in Philippines. But it has been widely cultivated in other South East Asian countries as well, hence I found it fresh in a non-Filipino store. Personally, I was surprised about how more popular it is now as I have met a handful of non-Asian acquaintances who are not only aware of ube, but also have tasted and enjoyed it as a donut, in halo-halo or just as ice cream either from a London food shop or from Filipino gatherings. They say it is definitely sweet with a hint of vanilla and to an extent earthy. But most of them cannot really describe how it tastes. They can only say what it doesn't taste like: it is not like a sweet potato although texture wise they are alike. It's one of those things that you will have to try eating in order to understand its taste.
Ube reminds me though of rhubarb not because of its taste but because of its great photo appeal. And both are more popular in sweet desserts which in my opinion makes it more of a fruit rather than a vegetable. It is however botanically classified as a vegetable with the name Dioscorea alata.
Ube is not taro nor is it purple sweet potato
Ube differs from taro as taro has white flesh with "purple dots" and is less sweet but they can be equally grainy in texture.
Ube also differs from the purple sweet potato of Japan. Some say their difference lies on how they grow: that purple yam grows from a vine while the purple sweet potato grows with the plant roots in the soil. And this got me confused as to why ube is considered a tuber. Before this blog post, I thought ube grows like a potato. I believe the Filipino ube is definitely rooted and found in soil but there might be some varieties that I might not be aware of that grow like vines. Ube planted in different areas of Philippines (for example Baguio and Batangas) will differ in depth of purple colour and intensity of sweetness plus aroma. As I am no expert on ube cultivation and its varieties, I will not try to go any further on how it grows.
For now, I can only be confident in telling my children what the real ube looks like. I hope now you can too...
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