Ube
Dioscorea alata · Tuber
Top 10 pairings
Ube is the deep-violet tuber of the water yam (Dioscorea alata), a tropical climbing vine grown across Asia and the Pacific. Cooked it turns soft, sweet and faintly nutty-vanilla, and its vivid purple flesh has made it a signature colour and flavour of Filipino desserts.
Picking a good onedrag
Just cured, rock hardSprouted and soft
Shop firmBuy itThe all-rounder: boil and mash, steam, or bake it dry for a nuttier, more caramelised flesh.
SkinSkin dulling and dusty, a shallow wrinkle at one end
HeftHard right through, the faintest give at the tapered tip
Cut faceViolet a shade duller, the face dry and clean
HeadClean, at most a dry corky scar
What you get from one
86%
Edible part
860 g a kilo · skin off
Keeping ittap a temperature
Not the fridge: at 12 °C and below the flesh discolours and softens waterlogged, then decays — five weeks at 5 °C, five days at 2 °C.
70–80%
Humidity
Free and ventilated
Airflow