Lesson 6.13.1 YAM – Food Value

 

FOOD FOREST COURSE 

AGRO-ECONOMY Lesson 6.13.1 

YAM – Food Value

 

Food value

Yams are rich in complex carbohydrates and fibre.  They are also good suppliers of vitamin B1 and C.  Traditionally yams are eaten with dark green leafy vegetables, fish, meat, peanuts and milk.  This makes up the bulk of the daily diet of the people in the Pacific region.  Some yams are very suitable for use in curries, taking the place of potatoes.  Yams can also be fried in oil or ghee till golden brown and many ingredients can be substituted with yam.

The purple yam will grow to an enormous size and in one season one entire yam plant can take up the space inside a 40 kg feed bag!  This particular yam has quite a bit of novelty value made into a delicious but radically purple cake, not to mention purple yam wine!

There are poisonous yams that need to be detoxified first.  While past tried and tested methods include repeated washing and soaking it is best to stick to the varieties that have been proven safe for us to eat.

 

When cooking the yam, it is best to cook it whole without peeling so nutrients aren’t lost.  Cool and peel but don’t be surprised if some varieties of cooked yams won’t mash when they are cooled down, grate them instead.  There are other variations in yams that might surprise the cook.  The yam that exudes a slimy mucilage is excellent for baking as it browns very easily and holds together without the addition of eggs.  These are very suitable for yam pie.  The traditional method for cooking yam is to roast it in the hot embers of a fire or in a hot earth oven.  Mashed yam with some protein food is also a traditional baby food.

 

A yam dough can be made with the yam that has extra rich mucilage.  Cook, cool and peel the yam and then pound to a glutinous dough, when it becomes firm it can be cut into pieces.

Yam flour can be made from peeled yam, sliced into one-centimetre rounds and then dried in the sun.  The dried yam is then traditionally pounded into a crude flour but who is to say you can’t use a food processor for the job?

Another way to make flour from the yam is to peel and cut into five-centimetre chunks, cook for 20-25 minutes or until soft and then mash into a pulp.  The whole lot is then spread out to a depth of 2 centimetres and dried in the sun for 4-6 hours at 50-70ºC or until the moisture content is 10% or less. The dried yam is then finely ground into a powder, sieved and stored in a dry place.

Fufu can be made from various starchy tubers including the yam.  Fufu is a starchy accompaniment for stews or other dishes throughout Africa.  To eat with fufu instead of a spoon, a bite sized chunk of cooked yam is taken and rolled into a ball.  An indentation is then pressed into it and it is then used to scoop up the stew or soup.  The fufu made from yam should be made from a glutinous dough. 

Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison.

 

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