While walking the hills near our home one day two or three years ago, my suweeto haato suggested that we harvest the 'jinenjo' (自然薯 literally, 'natural yam') that were growing in the wild...
We, more like I, dug at one plant, and boy, it turned out to be heavy duty work...
'Jinenjo' is a climber... perennial... native of Japan... scientific name, Dioscorea japonica... common name, Japanese yam or glutinous yam...
We took back some 'seeds' which I believe are actually 'fruits' that grow on their vines...
We like to joke that they resemble 'small potatoes' growing in the air...
This is a close-up of the 'little potatoes'... diameter varies from half to one centimeter...
The Japanese folks call them 'mukago' and they combine very well with rice... so much so that there is a term call 'mukago gohan'... 'gohan' being rice... the taste is really very good...
Their flesh is white in color and they have a very high viscosity (?) level, that is, they are very 'sticky' or 'glue-ish'....
Lovely, lovely vegetable... as we can enjoy both the 'fruits' and the 'tubers'...
I'd like to dedicate this post to Ash of 'Houris in the Garden' who graciously nominated my humble blog for the Beautiful Blog Award...
I am most honored and would like to thank her for the gesture...
However, I would like to ask Ash to forgive me because due to time constraints among other things, I am not able to fulfill the several things I should do in order to accept the award... one of which is to pass the award onwards as requested...
Hi Lrong,
ReplyDeleteSumptuous yam! Does it have the same taste like those in Malaysia? By looking at it, I thought it might seem to taste like our tapioca, true? Very unique indeed, to be able to enjoy the tubers as well as the fruits.
The award is yours. If you ever have the time later on, you may passed it on. But for now, it is already yours :)
Hmmm, not quite like the tapioca... their textures are different too... thanks for your consideration on the award...
DeleteAnd the natural yams are also yours.
ReplyDeleteRight on... shall be growing them again next season...
Deletewhat an interesting plant...and a lovely award, very much deserved! came by to see how you're doing in your Potager and find you are, as usual, doing quite well :D
ReplyDeleteTheanne... thank you very much for coming by... yes, am doing so-so... not too bad and thank god for that...
DeleteWild Yam? I never seen this plant before! But it's really interesting plant with potato like seeds!
ReplyDeleteCongratulation on the award!
Thank you, Malar...
DeleteMukago gohan tabetai desu.
ReplyDeleteTotemo oishikatta desu...
DeleteCongratulations, Lrong. Your blog is most deserving of the award! There is always beauty to be found here and I enjoy your little potager immensely!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words, Cat...
DeleteYou know what. I am a fan of yam. Really love to try this one hehe... And yes those fruits hanging onto the vine like that.. cute ;-D Btw, congrats on your award! Happy blogging.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of yam too... thank you for your wishes...
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