How to store yam

Many people do not know how to store yam properly, which will cause the yam they buy and put at home to deteriorate. This requires attention. The yam should be placed in a ventilated place, and it must be kept absolutely dry and not too humid, otherwise it is easy for the inside of the yam to deteriorate, eventually causing the yam to be infested with insects and no longer edible.

How to store yam

Characteristics

This product is slightly cylindrical, curved and slightly flat, 15 to 30 cm long and 1.5 to 6 cm in diameter. The surface is yellowish white or light yellow, with longitudinal grooves, longitudinal wrinkles and root marks, and occasionally some light brown outer skin remains. Heavy, solid, not easy to break, white and powdery in cross section. Odorless, light taste, slightly sour, sticky when chewed. The light yam is cylindrical, with flat ends, 9 to 18 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm in diameter. The surface is smooth, white or yellowish white.

Identification

This product is white powder. Single starch granules are flat oval, sub-circular, triangular oval or rectangular, with a diameter of 8 to 35 μm, with hilums in the shape of dots, herringbone, cross or short slits, and visible lamination; compound granules are rare, consisting of 2 to 3 sub-granules. Calcium oxalate needle bundles exist in mucous cells, are about 240 μm long, and the needle crystals are 2 to 5 μm thick. The diameter of the vessels with marginated pits, reticulate pits, spiral pits and annular pits is 12 to 48 μm.

Storage

Place in a ventilated and dry place to prevent moth damage.

Yam has been eaten by humans since ancient times and is one of the earliest plants eaten by humans. As early as in the Tang Dynasty, there was a famous line in the poems of the great poet Du Fu: "Eat lots of yam to fill the stomach." The yam tuber is thick, juicy, sweet, soft and sticky, and is delicious whether eaten raw or hot. Its tubers contain an average of 14.48% crude protein, 3.48% crude fiber, 43.7% starch, 1.14% sugar, 2.62% potassium, 0.2% phosphorus, 0.2% calcium, 0.14% magnesium, 5.51% ash, 53.57 ppm iron, 29.22 ppm zinc, 10.58 ppm copper, and 5.38 ppm manganese. Of the 18 amino acids needed by humans, yam contains 16.

This product is the dried rhizome of Dioscorea opposita Thunb., a plant of the Dioscoreaceae family. It is dug up after the stems and leaves wither in winter, the root head is cut off, washed, the outer skin and fibrous roots are removed, smoked with sulfur, and dried. Some people also choose large and straight dried yams, put them in clean water, soak them until there is no dry core, steam them thoroughly, smoke them with sulfur, cut both ends, rub them into a cylindrical shape with a wooden board, dry them, and polish them. They are commonly called "glossy yams".