Ube powder

What is ube and what does the powder taste like?

Ube is a tropical tuber with purple flesh, grown in the Philippines. Ground into powder by Kazidomi, it keeps that intense colour and a mild, faintly vanilla-like taste with no bitterness. It carries no caffeine, which sets it apart from the tea and cocoa powders used in the same drinks.

How do I make an ube latte?

Measure out the Kazidomi powder, slacken it first with a little hot water and whisk hard until you have a smooth paste, then lengthen it with the hot drink of your choice. The same base goes into a smoothie, a yoghurt, an ice cream or a cake batter, which it turns purple.

Ube or açaí powder: which one colours a preparation better?

The Kazidomi ube gives a clean purple and a mild taste that goes unnoticed in a milky drink or a cake. Açaí berry powder pulls towards deep crimson and brings a distinctly tarter, fruity note. For a creamy latte, take the ube; for a fruit bowl, the açaí.

Does it suit a plant-based diet?

It contains ube powder and nothing else, Dioscorea alata at 100%, with no ingredient of animal origin, no added sugar and no caffeine. The tuber holds no gluten. Kazidomi sells it in a 100 g pouch, a size that fits regular use in drinks and in home baking.

How should the pouch be stored?

Somewhere dry, out of the light and away from damp, with the pouch resealed after every use. Like any plant powder, the Kazidomi ube clumps once it meets humid air. If lumps do form, a pass through a sieve or a brisk whisk in hot water breaks them up.