Our First Ube Harvest -- Jan. 30, 2024

Early Feb 2023 (almost a year ago!) is when I received our first ube tuber. I planted it very shallow in a contain with a soil built from a good portion of clay. It was a cooler year with all the cloud cover and such. I therefore waited until May before planting it.
2023 was an abnormal year-- cloudy for most of May through June & an especially mild winter.
I was waiting on the vine to die back as a queue to begin the harvest. With the warm winter the vine stayed around. With a lot of rain in forecast I was fearful that the clay dampen and rot whatever tuber may have grown.
Not expecting much in the soil, I was pleasantly surprised by what grew.
Artificial ube flavor got popular in the last few years. By association, the actual ube yam became popular. However, this yam has been part of Filipino food culture for a long time. I like artificial ube flavor in ice cream and frozen yogurt. In its real form, ube can be found as a filling in a Filipino brioche called, "ube ensaymada."
Zone 10b / San Gabriel Valley / Los Angeles / Southern California / USA

[@neverenoughdirt]

Early Feb 2023 (almost a year ago!) is when I received our first ube tuber. I planted it very shallow in a contain with a soil built from a good portion of clay. It was a cooler year with all the cloud cover and such. I therefore waited until May before planting it.
2023 was an abnormal year-- cloudy for most of May through June & an especially mild winter.
I was waiting on the vine to die back as a queue to begin the harvest. With the warm winter the vine stayed around. With a lot of rain in forecast I was fearful that the clay dampen and rot whatever tuber may have grown.
Not expecting much in the soil, I was pleasantly surprised by what grew.
Artificial ube flavor got popular in the last few years. By association, the actual ube yam became popular. However, this yam has been part of Filipino food culture for a long time. I like artificial ube flavor in ice cream and frozen yogurt. In its real form, ube can be found as a filling in a Filipino brioche called, "ube ensaymada."

[@rizesgardening]

Nice!

[@babetteisinthegarden6920]

Congratulations, I tried growing a piece several years ago with no success

[@neverenoughdirt]

I am sorry to hear that, Babatte. This was a pleasant harvest and I hope it'll grow again.

[@igneousidol]

interesting, Trader Joe's used to sell a gluten free Ube pancake mix over a year ago, but I have not seen them in the store since...and never saw the vegetable or tuber in the stores

[@neverenoughdirt]

I was using the Trader Joe's ube pancake as a metric for ube's rise in popularity; among other things, LOL! There's not a TJ's close by so I didnt get to try their pancake mix either. I had a couple of visits to TJ's recently and couldn't find any as well!!
I am really curious to know how they taste and how ube they are :D
There are Filipino stores within driving distance in LA but as a homebody I opted to source my tuber from Etsy, hehe. I am pretty sure that they will carry the tubers. I dont know if they are seasonal though.
Thanks for watching :)