In article , "Chuck" wrote:
There is also a yam which grows in the southern Mexico wooded areas that is
edible but rather than Ipomea it is related to the Dioscorea group
(spelling?) and also has weak birth control properties. (I think diosgenin
is extracted from it, A preproduct of birth control medications. )

My purple yam is shooting again -- in fact it had 50 new shoots
spread over several metres at last count. The root "tubers" are
edible, but the purple colour is a bit of a worry and I would never
had tried the things if I hadn't been told by reliable sources that I
could eat it. It also has aerial tubers (bulbils?) which will grow if
planted, but I don't know if they are edible (some of these things
aren't). Frankly, I reckon yams are over-rated and I probably
wouldn't eat them by choice beyond curiosity.

One of the local supermarkets has recently been flogging another type
of yam and, judging by how clean the things are, I suspect they might
actually be edible aerial tubers in this case. Pale buff skin and
pure white flesh with even a suggestion of translucence. The texture
is light and crisp -- rather "refreshing" eaten raw, but bugger all
flavour. (Rather like the tubers of _Pachyrhizus tuberosa_ in fact.)


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID