Chufa sedge | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Cyperaceae |
Genus: | Cyperus |
Species: | C. esculentus |
Binomial name | |
Cyperus esculentus | |
Synonyms [2] | |
Synonymy
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Cyperus esculentus (also called chufa, [3] tiger nut, [4] atadwe, [5] yellow nutsedge, [6] earth almond, and in Chishona, pfende [7] ) is a species of plant in the sedge family widespread across much of the world. [8] It is found in most of the Eastern Hemisphere, including Southern Europe, Africa and Madagascar, as well as the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. [9] [10] [11] C. esculentus is cultivated for its edible tubers, called earth almonds or tiger nuts (due to the stripes on their tubers and their hard shell), as a snack food and for the preparation of horchata de chufa , a sweet, milk-like beverage. [12] [13]
Cyperus esculentus can be found wild, as a weed, or as a crop. It is an invasive species outside its native range, and is readily transported accidentally to become invasive. In many countries, C. esculentus is considered a weed. [12] [14] It is often found in wet soils such as rice paddies and peanut farms as well as well-irrigated lawns and golf courses during warm weather.
Cyperus esculentus is an annual or perennial plant, growing to 90 centimetres (3 feet) tall, with solitary stems growing from a tuber. The plant is reproduced by seeds, creeping rhizomes, and tubers. [15] Due to its clonal nature, C. esculentus can take advantage of soil disturbances caused by anthropogenic or natural forces. [16] [17] The stems are triangular in section and bear slender leaves 3–10 millimetres (1⁄8–3⁄8 inch) wide. The spikelets of the plant are distinctive, with a cluster of flat, oval seeds surrounded by four hanging, leaf-like bracts positioned 90 degrees from each other. They are 5 to 30 mm (1⁄4 to 1+1⁄8 in) long and linear to narrowly elliptic with pointed tips and 8 to 35 florets. The color varies from straw-colored to gold-brown. They can produce up to 2420 seeds per plant. The plant foliage is very tough and fibrous and is often mistaken for a grass. The roots are an extensive and complex system of fine, fibrous roots and scaly rhizomes with small, hard, spherical tubers and basal bulbs attached.
The tubers are 0.3–2.5 cm (1⁄8–1 in) in diameter and the colors vary between yellow, brown, and black. [18] [19] One plant can produce several hundred to several thousand tubers during a single growing season. With cool temperatures, the foliage, roots, rhizomes, and basal bulbs die, but the tubers survive and resprout the following spring when soil temperatures remain above 6 °C (43 °F). [15] They can resprout up to several years later. [20] When the tubers germinate, many rhizomes are initiated and end in a basal bulb near the soil surface. These basal bulbs initiate the stems and leaves above ground, and fibrous roots underground. C. esculentus is wind pollinated and requires cross pollination as it is self–incompatible.
Cyperus esculentus is a highly invasive species in Oceania, Mexico, some regions of the United States, and the Caribbean, mainly by seed dispersion. [12] It is readily transported internationally, and is adaptable to re-establish in varied climate and soil environments. [12] In Japan, it is an exotic clonal weed favorable to establish in wet habitats. [12] Cyperus esculentus serves as a larval host for Euphyes vestris (dun skipper) [21] and Diploschizia impigritella (yellow nut-sedge moth) in North America. [22] Cyperus esculentus likely reached the new world through ocean currents before the Holocene. [23]
Cyperus esculentus is cultivated in Egypt, Spain, Nigeria, United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Yemen, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Sudan, South Sudan, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Mali, where they are used primarily as animal feed or as a side dish, but in Hispanic countries they are used mainly to make horchata, a sweet, milk-like beverage.
Cyperus esculentus cultivation requires a mild climate. Low temperature, shade, and light intensity can inhibit flowering. [18] Tuber initiation is inhibited by high levels of nitrogen, long photoperiods, and high levels of gibberellic acid. Flower initiation occurs under photoperiods of 12 to 14 hours per day.
Tubers can develop in soil depths around 30 cm, but most occur in the top or upper part. They tolerate many adverse soil conditions including periods of drought and flooding and survive soil temperatures around −5 °C (23 °F). They grow best on sandy, moist soils at a pH between 5.0 – 7.5. [18] The densest populations of C. esculentus are often found in low-lying wetlands. [24] They do not tolerate salinity. [18]
Cyperus esculentus is normally planted on previously tilled flat soils with ridges to facilitate irrigation. Seeds are planted manually on these ridges, which are approximately 60 cm (2 ft) apart. Distances between seeds may vary from 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 in) and seeding depth is around 8 cm (3 in). A typical seeding rate for chufa is about 120 kg of tubers/ha (107 lbs/acre). [25]
They are planted between April and May and must be irrigated every week until they are harvested in November and December. Tubers develop about 6–8 weeks after seedling emergence and grow quickly during July and August. The maturing is around 90–110 days. The average yield can approach between 10 and 19 t/ha. [26] [27]
Cyperus esculentus is extremely difficult to remove completely once established. This is due to the plant having a stratified and layered root system, with tubers and roots being interconnected to a depth of 36 cm or more. [18] The tubers are connected by fragile roots that are prone to snapping when pulled, making the root system difficult to remove intact. Intermediate rhizomes can potentially reach a length of 60 cm. The plant can quickly regenerate if a single tuber is left in place. By competing for light, water and nutrients it can reduce the vigour of neighbouring plants. It can develop into a dense colony. Patch boundaries can increase by more than one meter per year. Tubers and seed disperse with agricultural activities, soil movement or by water and wind. They are often known as a contaminant in crop seeds. When plants are small they are hard to distinguish from other weeds such as Dactylis glomerata and Elytrigia repens . Thus it is hard to discover in an early stage and therefore hard to counteract. Once it is detected, mechanical removal, hand removal, grazing, damping, and herbicides can be used to inhibit C. esculentus.
Harvest usually occurs in November or December and the leaves are scorched during the harvest. With a combine harvester, the tiger nut is pulled out of the ground. Immediately after harvesting, the tiger nuts are washed with water in order to remove sand and small stones. The drying occurs usually in the sun and can take up to three months. [28] The temperatures and humidity levels have to be monitored very carefully during this period. The tiger nuts have to be turned every day to ensure uniform drying. The drying process ensures a longer shelf life. This prevents rot or other bacterial infections, securing quality and high nutrition levels. Disadvantages in the drying process are shrinkage, skin wrinkles and hard nut texture.[ citation needed ]
Tiger nut loses a considerable amount of water during drying and storage. The starch content of the tiger nut tubers decreases and the reducing sugar (invert sugar) content increases during storage. [29] Tiger nut can be stored dry and rehydrated by soaking without losing the crisp texture. Soaking is often done overnight. Dried tiger nuts have a hard texture and soaking is required to render them more easily edible and to ensure acceptable sensory quality. [18]
According to the Consejo Regulador de Chufa de Valencia (Regulating Council for Valencia's Tiger Nuts), [30] the nutritional composition/100 ml of the Spanish beverage horchata de chufas is as follows: energy content around 66 kcal, proteins around 0.5 g, carbohydrates over 10 g with starch at least 1.9 g, fats at least 2 g.
Dried tiger nut has a smooth, tender, sweet, and nutty taste. It can be consumed raw, roasted, dried, baked or as tiger nut milk, tiger nut drink or oil.
In Spain, the drink now known as horchata de chufa (also sometimes called horchata de chufas or, in West African countries such as Nigeria and Mali, kunun aya) is the original form of horchata.[ dubious – discuss ] It is made from soaked, ground and sweetened tiger nuts mixed with sugar and water. [31] It remains popular in Spain, where a regulating council exists to ensure the quality and traceability of the product in relation to the designation of origin. There it is served ice-cold as a natural refreshment in the summer, often served with fartons. The majority of the Spanish tiger nut crop is utilised in the production of horchata de chufa. Alboraya is the most important production centre.
The tubers can be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute. [32]
The tubers are edible raw or cooked. [33] They have a slightly sweet, nutty flavour, compared to the more bitter-tasting tuber of the related Cyperus rotundus (purple nutsedge). 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. The tubers can also be dried and ground into flour. [33]
In Northern Nigeria, it is called aya and it is usually eaten fresh. It is sometimes dried and later rehydrated and eaten. A snack made by toasting the nuts and sugar coating it is popular among the Hausa children of Northern Nigeria. Also, a drink known as kunun aya is made by processing the nuts with dates and later sieved and served chilled.
In Egypt, tiger nuts are known by the name Hab el-Aziz and after softening it by soaking in water, it is sold on hand carts as a street food. [34] Its popularity was depicted in movies, such as the song named after it, "Hab el Aziz".
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 and in the preparation of kunu (a local beverage in Nigeria).[ citation needed ] Kunu is a nonalcoholic beverage prepared mainly from cereals (such as millet or sorghum) by heating and mixing with spices (dandelion, alligator pepper, ginger, licorice) and sugar. To make up for the poor nutritional value of kunu prepared from cereals, tiger nut was found to be a good substitute for cereal grains. Tiger nut oil can be used naturally with salads or for deep frying. It is considered to be a high-quality oil. Tiger nut "milk" has been tried as an alternative source of milk in fermented products, such as yogurt production, and other fermented products common in some African countries and can thus be useful replacing milk in the diet of people intolerant to lactose to a certain extent. [14]
Since the tubers of C. esculentus contain 20-36% oil, it has been suggested as potential oil crop for the production of biodiesel. [35] One study found that chufa produced 1.5 metric tonnes of oil per hectare (174 gallons/acre) based on a tuber yield of 5.67 t/ha and an oil content of 26.4%. [36] A similar 6-year study found tuber yields ranging from 4.02 to 6.75 t/ha, with an average oil content of 26.5% and an average oil yield of 1.47 t/ha. [37] The oil of the tuber was found to contain 18% saturated (palmitic acid and stearic acid) and 82% unsaturated (oleic acid and linoleic acid) fatty acids. [35]
The boiled nuts are used in the UK as a bait for carp. The nuts have to be prepared in a prescribed manner to prevent harm to the fish. The nuts are soaked in water for 24 hours, and then boiled for 20 minutes or longer until fully expanded. Some anglers then leave the boiled nuts to ferment for 24–48 hours, which can enhance their effectiveness. If the nuts are not properly prepared, they can be toxic to carp. This was originally thought to have been the cause of death of Benson, a large, well-known female carp weighing 54 lb (24 kg) found floating dead in a fishing lake, with a bag of unprepared tiger nuts lying nearby, empty, on the bank. An examination of the fish by a taxidermist concluded tiger nut poisoning was not the cause of death, but rather the fish had died naturally. [38]
It has been suggested that the extinct hominin Paranthropus boisei (the "Nutcracker Man") subsisted on tiger nuts. [39]
Cyperus esculentus was one of the oldest cultivated plants in prehistoric and Ancient Egypt, where it was an important food. Roots of wild chufa have been found at Wadi Kubbaniya, north of Aswan, dating to around 16,000 BC. [40] Dry tubers also appear later in tombs of the Predynastic period, around 3000 BC. During that time, C. esculentus tubers were consumed either boiled in beer, roasted, or as sweets made of ground tubers with honey. [41] The tubers were also used medicinally, taken orally, as an ointment, or as an enema, and used in fumigants to sweeten the smell of homes or clothing. [42] Chufa continued to be an important source of food in the Dynastic period, and cultivation of the plant remained exclusively in Egypt. [43] The tomb of the vizier Rekhmire from the 15th century BCE, shows peasants preparing and measuring tiger nuts to make votive cakes as offerings to the god Amun. [44] [45] The modern name for tiger nuts in Egypt is حب العزيز (Hab el Aziz = grains of Al-Aziz ) named after the Fatimid ruler who was reputedly fond of it. [34]
The kola nut is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus Cola, placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae. These cola species are trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa. Their caffeine-containing seeds are about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) across and are used as flavoring ingredients in various carbonated soft drinks, from which the name cola originates.
Root vegetables are underground plant parts eaten by humans as food. In agricultural and culinary terminology, the term applies to true roots such as taproots and tuberous roots as well as non-roots such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and stem tubers.
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, many dry seeds are called nuts. In a botanical context, "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent).
The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus Corylus, especially the nuts of the species Corylus avellana. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to species.
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 genera – the largest being the "true sedges", with over 2,000 species.
Horchata, or orxata, is a name given to various beverages, which are generally plant based, but sometimes contain milk. In Spain, it is made with soaked, ground, and sweetened tiger nuts. In some parts of the Americas, the base is jicaro, melon or sesame seeds, or white rice, along with other spices. Different varieties can be served hot or cold, and may be used as a flavor in other beverages, such as frappé coffee.
Cyperus is a large genus of about 700 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.
Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus, known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the mallow family native to East Africa. It has edible green seed pods. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions around the world, okra is used in the cuisines of many countries.
Canarium ovatum, the pili, is a species of tropical tree belonging to the genus Canarium. It is one of approximately 600 species in the family Burseraceae. C. ovatum are native to the Philippines. They are commercially cultivated in the Philippines for their edible nuts and is believed to be indigenous to that country. The fruit and tree are often vulgarized with the umbrella term of "Java almond" which mixes multiple species of the same genus, Canarium.
Coleus esculentus, synonym Plectranthus esculentus, also known as the kaffir potato or Livingstone potato, is a species of plant in the dicot family Lamiaceae. It is indigenous to Africa, where it is grown for its edible tubers. It is more difficult to cultivate than Coleus rotundifolius, but able to give greater yields. Although the crop is similar to a potato, it is from the mint family, but it is still quite nutritious and useful. This crop can benefit many subsistence farmers since it is native, easy to grow, enjoying growing popularity in the market, and quite nutritious.
Canna indica, commonly known as Indian shot, African arrowroot, edible canna, purple arrowroot, Sierra Leone arrowroot, is a plant species in the family Cannaceae. It is native to much of South America, Central America, the West Indies, and Mexico. It is also naturalized in the southeastern United States, and much of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.
Cyperus rotundus is a species of sedge (Cyperaceae) native to Africa, southern and central Europe, and southern Asia. The word cyperus derives from the Greek κύπερος, kyperos, and rotundus is from Latin, meaning "round". The earliest attested form of the word cyperus is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀓𐀞𐀫, ku-pa-ro, written in Linear B syllabic script.
Cyperus eragrostis is a species of sedge known by several common names, including tall flatsedge, nutgrass, tall nutgrass, umbrella sedge, chufa, Earth almond, zula nuts, edible galingale and pale galingale.
This is a categorically organized list of foods. Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is produced either by plants, animals, or fungi, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.
A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. For humans, a staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small variety of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Typical examples include grains, seeds, nuts and root vegetables. Among them, cereals, legumes and tubers account for about 90% of the world's food calorie intake.
Caryodendron orinocense, commonly known as cacay, inchi or orinoconut, is an evergreen tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae.
Canarium indicum, known as galip nut, is a mainly dioecious tree native in eastern Melanesia. It is usually found in rainforests, secondary forests, old garden areas, around villages and settlements. It is also used as a shade tree, as a windbreak and in agroforestry. Canarium is important in the world food system as it can be used as a food and timber source, in traditional medicine, intercropping and agroforestry.
Cyperus serotinus is a species of sedge that is native to parts of Europe and Asia.
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