20+ BEST Ube Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What flavors go best with ube? ›

Ube tastes mildly sweet (but sweeter than taro and a sweet potato), with a nutty flavor, and is a bit like a vanilla baked good. That's why it's commonly paired with coconut and white chocolate in desserts.

While they both have a similar taste and are often used in sweet dishes, they differ in texture and nutritional value. Taro is earthy and starchy, and is a great choice for savory dishes, while ube has a distinct and sweet flavor, making it perfect for desserts.

Ube is often mistaken for a purple sweet potato because of its violet flesh, but the two are not the same. The difference between ube and purple sweet potato is that ube is a yam instead of a sweet potato.

Ube likely first arrived in Hawai'i with the sakadas, Filipino migrant workers who came to the islands starting in the early 1900s to work on the growing cane and pineapple plantations; Barbosa's own great-grandparents were sakadas, and her paternal grandmother was born on O'ahu in 1921.

Even though ube and purple sweet potatoes share a sweet, earthy taste, ube has a distinctively nuttier, vanilla-like flavor. In addition to their differences in taste, ube is more moist than sweet potatoes, which tend to be drier in texture.

Ube, meaning tuber in Tagalog, is a purple yam originally from the Philippines. Different than the purple sweet potato, it has an even sweeter, more mellow taste than its orange relative.

Ube has high levels of vitamins A and C, as well as lots of potassium, similar to potatoes. Taro is exceptionally high in fiber, with about 25% of your daily recommendation in just one serving. It's also extremely high in manganese, vitamin B6, and potassium.

Ube is Tagalog – the national language of the Philippines – for the purple yam native to Southeast Asia that has since been naturalized in South America, Africa, Australia, and the southeastern United States. It is also known as the “winged” or “water” yam in English.

For the uninitiated, ube (pronounced ooh-bae) is a starchy vegetable also as known as a purple yam. But it is not the same as purple sweet potatoes, though they are similar and can be substituted in recipes. Ube is often confused with Stokes Purple sweet potatoes or Okinawan sweet potatoes which are also purple.

Okinawans typically serve sweet potatoes steamed, which perfectly renders their creamy texture and sweet flavor. The best places to find purple sweet potatoes are Asian markets, but they are also sold through many online grocers.

Is Okinawan sweet potato the same as ube? ›

Ube is very similar to Okinawan sweet potato (which is actually native to the United States) — both have the same color skin (though some Okinawan sweet potatoes have light-colored skin) and a bright purple flesh, but ube tend to have darker skin.

Studies suggest that ube may have a role to play in blood sugar management. The presence of flavonoids in ube might contribute to regulating blood sugar levels, potentially benefiting individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Although a lot of the ube craze in America began at Trader Joe's, especially for buyers who have never heard of the Filipino yam, diving into the flavor doesn't have to end at that particular grocery chain.

Originating from the Philippines, ube is a starchy root vegetable that belongs to the yam family. You may be familiar with its close cousin, the sweet potato. Ube is a deep royal purple, and has long been the crown on top of the Philippines' national dessert – halo-halo.

Today, ube is especially prevalent in Hawai'i, even though the yam and its most well-known halaya recipe are originally native to the Philippines.

I like to sprinkle some coconut brittle on top of my purple yam ice cream, because that crunch is such a lovely contrast to the creamy ice cream texture. Plus the coconut flavor perfectly complements the ube flavor as well!

While ube is used in both sweet and savory dishes, Besa said that it's primarily used in sweet recipes. Ube halaya, or ube jam, is often used in desserts like halo-halo (Filipino shaved ice) or added to pies and ice cream, which you can often find at Purple Yam.

Ube is used widely in Filipino desserts and baked goods, from chiffon cake to cheese-filled pandesal. It tastes earthy and sweet with notes of vanilla, pistachio and coconut, which works beautifully in all sorts of dishes.

It has been a staple ingredient in Filipino cuisine for centuries, most often in desserts such as ube halaya (a kind of sweet jam made with ube), and halo-halo (the national dessert of the Philippines, made of ube, crushed ice, and other toppings).