Super Foods Packed with Goodness!
Dobies are delighted to launch a plant that truly deserves the title of heritage! Cultivated for over 4,000 years and much favoured by the Egyptians, ‘Tiger Nuts’ as they are known, are meeting the growing demand for healthy snacks that can easily be grown in a container at home.
Once popular in the 50ies era of post war rationing, they were seen as a treat for children, bought at the local sweet shop.
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In fact, Tiger Nuts are not nuts at all, but rather the tubers from a grass known as Yellow Nutsedge or Cyperus esculentus to give its proper name. A member of the sedge family, Tiger Nuts are widespread across much of the world, being native to most of the Western Hemisphere, as well as West Africa and India.
An easy to grow grass they will tolerate many adverse soil conditions including periods of drought and flooding and survive soil temperatures around −5 °C (23 °F). However, they are best contained in a tub due to a very vigorous habit.
The rhizomes produce masses of intently sweet tubers that are bigger than peanuts, and taste of almonds and coconut. They can be eaten straight out of the ground, once washed of course!
Super Foods Packed with Goodness
Heralded as a super food, tiger nuts are a natural source of pre-biotics, for the digestive system, promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the intestines. They’re packed full of fibre and other nutrients, being rich in Vitamin C, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Potassium, and Magnesium, that can boost metabolism and help stave off infection. They also contain high levels of vitamin E, which is known to slow down the ageing of the body cells. It also supports the elasticity of the skin and reduces skin wrinkles.
Weight Loss Aid as Part Of A Healthy Diet
They also contain low density lipoprotein-cholesterolor, a type of starch which resists digestion. This helps keep us feeling fuller for longer, and also reduces the amount of calories we absorb from the food. Plus, they are low in calories and fats, thus they can help as an aid to weight loss, and help to satisfy hunger.
So, Tiger Nuts have all the nutrients and energy benefits of nuts, but being gluten and nut free, they do not adversely affect allergies.
Easy To Grow and Fun To Harvest
Easiest grown in a container until the first frost kills the leaves, then you simply unearth numerous ‘nuts’. The colour varies from straw coloured to gold-brown. The plant foliage is very tough and fibrous and looks just like a grass. One plant can produce several hundred to several thousand tubers during a single growing season.
Perfect served raw to eat as a snack or on cereal or add to your baking or morning smoothie or in salads. They can also be ground into a flour and used in baking.
Popular in Hispanic cultures, Tiger Nuts are known as ‘chufa’ and are grown in the Valencia region of Spain, where they are used to make a popular milky drink, Horchata.
