Tiger nut also called earth almond, nut grass, or yellow nutsedge is a crop of the sedge family that has existed for centuries. They are popular snacks in West Africa, where they are known as Hausa groundnut, Ofio, Isip Isong, Aya, or Awusa in Nigeria. It can be consumed raw, roasted, baked or as tiger nut milk or oil. The dried tigernut has a smooth tender, sweet and a nutty taste. They are quite hard and are soaked in water before they can be eaten. They flour can be added to biscuit and other bakery products. It is used in making soap, oil and starch extracts. It is used for the production of jam, beer, and as a flavouring agent in ice cream. Tiger nut milk is used in yogurt production. This nut does good and should be eaten moderately as too much of it can cause fecal impaction.
Nutritional Values of Tiger Nut
Although we eat this nut everyday, most people do not know what it does to us. The following are the nutritional values of Tiger Nut;
- Tiger nut helps prevent heart disease.
- It activate blood circulation.
- This nut reduces the rate of colon cancer.
- This tuber is rich in energy content such as starch, fat, sugar and protein. It is also rich in minerals mainly phosphorus and potassium, vitamin E and C.
- Tiger nut tubers contain almost twice the quality of starch as potato and sweet potato tubers.
- 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. The moderately high content of phytosterols further enriches the quality and value of tiger nut oil as a food source.
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