FUN FACTS

Ancla 1

February 22, 2016

BREADFRUIT

The milky sap from breadfruit trees can be used as a glue.

Pacific Islanders kept breadfruit for long periods by burying it in large pits and allowing it to ferment. It can last for a year or more.

Breadfruit bark can be used to make paper or ‘tapa’.

SWEET POTATO

To take in the amount of vitamin A that is in one sweet potato you would have to eat 23 cups of broccoli

Sweet potatoes can be white, yellow, red, purple, and orange

The orange-fleshed sweet potato are sweeter than the other colored varieties

Sweet potatoes are a root vegetable

YAM

It may surprise you to know that in the Trobriands, near Papua New Guinea, they have ‘magicians’ who are specially needed to use their magic to make yams flourish in their neat and tidy gardens.

At one point in Japan’s history, it was only the nobility who were privileged to be allowed to eat the Japanese variety of yam, known as yamaimo root.

Estrogens (sex hormones) were first made from a similar compound in yams. Yams were used commercially to produce hormones for contraceptive pills, and steroids.

YUCCA

BACK

Yucca or Tapioca is a staple food in some regions and is used worldwide as a thickening agent, mainly in foods. Tapioca is gluten-free, and almost completely protein-free.

The yucca has at least 40 species, including Yucca filamentosa, the most common type, Yucca brevifolia (Joshua tree), Yucca aloifolia (Spanish bayonet), and Yucca gloriosa (Spanish dagger). Two other species, Yucca baccata and Yucca glauca, are called soap plant because their roots are especially good for making soap.