Cyperus esculentus (also called chufa, tigernut, atadwe, yellow nutsedge, and earth almond) A true and overlooked superfood, tiger nuts are high in fibre, highly nutritious and believed to contain ingredients that can help prevent heart attacks and improve blood circulation. Despite its name, tiger nutsedge is a tuber. However, its chemical composition shares characteristics with tubers and with nuts. This tuber is rich in energy content such as starch, fat, sugar, and protein, as well as dietary minerals, mainly phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium.
Dried tiger nut has a smooth, tender, sweet, and nutty taste. It can be consumed raw, roasted, dried, baked or as tiger nut milk or oil.
Drink
As a drink tiger nut milk, is made from soaked, ground and sweetened tiger nuts. Milk made from tiger nuts is an inexpensive source of protein and is also used as a milk substitute. Tiger nut milk has no lactose but plenty of calcium, as well as being a great source of vitamin E and healthy fats.
Food
The tubers are edible, with a slightly sweet, nutty flavour. They are quite hard and are generally soaked in water before they can be eaten, making them much softer and giving them a better texture. They are a popular snack in West Africa and Northern Nigeria.
Flour of roasted tiger nut is sometimes added to biscuits and other bakery products as well as in making oil, soap, and starch extracts. It is also used for the production of nougat, jam, beer, and as a flavoring agent in ice cream.
Oil
Tiger nut oil can be used naturally with salads or for deep frying. It is considered to be a high quality oil containing 18% saturated (palmitic acid and stearic acid) and 82% unsaturated (oleic acid and linoleic acid) fatty acids. It has also been suggested as potential oil crop for the production of biodiesel.
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