Good eat: Tiger Nuts

Growing up as a child, tiger nuts were one of the things I use my pocket money to buy. I enjoyed both fresh and dried tiger nuts. I grew up knowing it as ‘aki awusa’ some call it ‘ofio’ while here in Abuja and northern Nigeria it’s called ‘aya’. Contrary to popular perception, it is a tuber rather than nuts. The most popular produce of Tiger nut is Kunun aya (tiger nut milk), a popular drink mostly consumed amongst the Hausa people. For recipe forTiger Nut milk click here Kunun Aya

It is considered a health food. Tiger nut can help prevent cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and colon cancer. According to health nutritionist, tiger nuts stimulate the immune system, build strong bones, muscles, repair tissues, blood stream, lower cholesterol as well as aids fertility in men and women.

Tiger  Nuts Nutritional Facts:

Rich in energy content (starch, fat, sugar, and protein), minerals (mainly phosphorus and potassium)

They are rich in vitamins E and C therefore making it suitable for diabetics

Tiger nut contain almost twice the quantity of starch as sweet potato or potato tubers

The oil of the tuber contain 18% saturated and 82% unsaturated fatty acids making it extremely healthy

Tiger nut skin (often not consumed) contains most of the fiber content. (59.71 g/100 g), composed mainly of insoluble dietary fibre (99.8%)

Bonus: to get the complete benefit of Tiger nuts, dry out the chaff from kunun making and mill it into flour. Use the flour in your favourite baking recipe or other food like garri, plantain fufu etc. to increase the fibre content.

Read more about Tiger Nuts here  here and here