People who are not from the Southeast Asian regions have a hard time accepting the idea of ube jam, ube ice cream, or any other ube-based dessert. Ube is the Filipino word for purple yam. There are different kinds of yam. Basically, yam comes from a climbing plant that bears tubers. In the US, Americans refer to sweet potato as yam and vice versa, although the two are not at all related. Other than the fact that both are tubers, they are two completely separate types of root crop.
Essentially, there are African, Asian and South American yams. Africa has four types: aerial yam, white Guinea yam, yellow Guinea yam and African bitter yam. The word “yam” actually originates from “nyami”, which is African for “to eat”. Asia also has several types: Chinese (cinnamon yam), Asian greater yam (the beloved ube or purple yam) and the Japanese yam. Meanwhile, South America only has one type of yam, the cush-cush.
As mentioned above, people from other parts of the world initially have a hard time reconciling the purple color with the actual taste of ube. Other Asians, on the other hand, have similar delicacies that also make use of purple yam as the main ingredient. The Chinese, for instance, have purple yam jelly, while the Vietnamese have purple yam pudding. As tubers go, purple yam is a great-tasting one, and is even sweeter than sweet potato. It totally makes sense that those who have ready to access to ube have created tasty treats out of it.
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