My Favorite Things: U is for Ube

Ube or purple yam (scientific name: Dioscorea alata) is a yummy root vegetable with an incredibly beautiful lavender color and delicious taste. It is commonly used in the Philippines as an ingredient in sweets.  Unfortunately, I have not come across any Ube here in India which makes me miss and crave it even more). 

Ube Cake (Photo credit: Sam Howzit)

In the Philippines, ube is used in ice cream, muffins, cakes, rice cakes (puto), silvanas, polvoron (powdery candy made from powdered milk), halaya (sweet jam), halo-halo (an iced dessert), espasol (a type of rice cake) and kalamay (a sticky sweet delicacy). 

Ube Ice Cream (Photo credit: leoslo)

Again, this post is making me drool.... ;) Anyway... even though I have not had ube anything since 1997... ube continues to be among my favorite things (which I truly miss).