Ube
My earliest memory of ube is that of a purple, fish-shaped, sticky cake called ube kalamay. I remember that it is a rare treat for us and I only see it when there are a special occasions like Christmas and fiesta on our little home village.
To make this ube kalamay, one has to make the ube halaya or purple yam jam first. Preparing the ube jam is a community effort. Men and women around the neighbourhood gather to boil, peel and grate the harvested purple yam before dumping it all in a giant wok. Then the ube must be mixed for hours under fire while adding the sugar, coconut milk, condensed milk and margarine. It is hard work to prepare it but because of so many people around, it is already like a festivity by itself.
What is Ube?
Ube, also known as purple yam, is a vegetable root crop commonly found in southeast asia but most especially in the Philippines. It is usually mistaken with purple sweet potato and taro or yam. Let’s see how they differ.
Purple yam belongs to the Dioscorea family while Taro is in the Araceaa family. Both tubers have a sticky, starchy meat when cooked and mashed. Ube however has a distinct purple hue near its skin and meat while taro is just cream in color. Both of them also have a rough exterior with the taro’s skin being brownish and fuzzy while ube has thicker, darker and almost bark like skin.
Sweet potatoes on the other hand, belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. There are a lot of sweet potato varieties that have purplish meat including the Okinawan purple potato and the Charleston sweet potato. Sweet potatoes however have a smooth thin skin and would never be mistaken for the rough tree like skin of the purple yam.
Ube in Filipino Dishes
All over the Philippines, ube is used to create dishes that has become a staple in the country’s diet. The favorite summer treat halo-halo is not complete without ube halaya or ube ice cream on top. The same can be said for binignit or ginataang halo-halo where ube is used as little diced cubes or mashed and mixed with the glutinous rice flour to make the purple sticky rice balls.
Ube jam or ube halaya is so versatile now as an ingredient and it has become the base of so many filipino deserts. Pastries like ube pan de sal, ube ensaymada, ube loaf, ube crinkles, ube flan, ube doughnuts, ube puto, ube hopia, ube macarons, ube cookies, ube candies, and of course ube cakes, all use this jam to give it that amazing color and sweet, nutty flavor.
Ube in Australia
Purple yam is not commonly grown in Australia but there are a few farms selling them from Queensland. If you want to grow your very own ube plant, you can order some from foodforestseeds.au and they ship on the whole of Australia too. Just take note that although they are hardy plants, they really don’t like too much water and freezing temperature.
If you don’t have a green thumb and you want to get your hands on this ingredient at the soonest, just head to your nearest Asian store and you can buy purple yam as:
- Frozen Purple Yam – this is as close as you get to the real thing. They can either be sliced, diced or grated and stored in vacuum sealed plastic containers.
- Ube Jam – my personal favourite, stored in glass jars, this purple yam is cooked and mixed with sugar, evaporated/condensed milk and butter/margarine.
- Ube Powder – this one is made from cooked, mashed then dried and pulverized purple yam.
- Ube Essence – concentrated liquid flavouring which can also serve as a food colouring to get that desirable purple hue.
Ube is becoming popular lately here in Australia. With many pastry products and recipes continually being developed around this ingredient, now may be the best time to introduce this humble crop to our friends. Ube is part of our culture and heritage as Filipinos so let’s all be proud of it.