Please Help Identify This Vegetable

[Nick Dooley]

Hi, while on a cruise in the Caribbean, we went to a food market and saw these things. The lady selling them said they are used like potatoes. My French is not great so didn’t get the name. It grows on the plant, so not a root like ginger, more like a squash or gourd, but none I have seen have a random edge, most are uniform. Any Help would be great.

 

[Mrsclem]

I have worked at several stores that carried a lot of exotic veggies but thats a new one. Hoping someone will be able to identify it!

 

[Marck]

This 'vegetable' is the most unusual thing I've seen in awhile. Maybe a bump-post will give us another chance to have it identified.

 

[Marck]

I'm bumping this thread again. Maybe somebody from the Caribbean will recognize this.

 

[Larisa]

Dioscorea bulbifera (the air potato)

 

[Marck]

Dioscorea bulbifera (the air potato)

Dioscorea is an interesting possibility, and you may be right, but these don't look like ordinary air-potatoes. The irregular lobes and flanged edge (like a seam) are not typical. Could it be a monstrose cultivar or another species of yam?

 

[Larisa]

Perhaps there are some varieties ... I have never seen, I just read the article.

Air Potato facts and health benefits

Air Potato Dioscorea bulbifera, is nutrient dense vegetable support for cancer, fever, dysentery, hernia, goiter, diarrhea, tumors, syphilis, hemorrhoids, sore throats, leprosy, tumors and diabetes

www.healthbenefitstimes.com

 

[Marck]

Perhaps there are some varieties ... I have never seen, I just read the article.

Air Potato facts and health benefits

Air Potato Dioscorea bulbifera, is nutrient dense vegetable support for cancer, fever, dysentery, hernia, goiter, diarrhea, tumors, syphilis, hemorrhoids, sore throats, leprosy, tumors and diabetes

www.healthbenefitstimes.com

Yes, you're right, Larisa. This seems to be a very different 'edible' form of Dioscorea bulbifera. I wonder if they are both really the same species? This article gives a bit more information. https://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/edible-dioscorea-bulbifera-yam/