ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Tigernut, Yellow Nutsedge and Chufa. Grown for the edible tubers, eaten when dry, raw, boiled, or roasted. Juice pressed from fresh tubers is consumed in quantities in Europe, especially in Spain, as a beverage, called Horchata de Chufas; sometimes it is chilled or frozen. Nuts used as substitute for coffee; or for almonds in confectionery, or made into a kind of chocolate. In Africa, nuts used in the form of milk pap, made by grinding fresh nuts fine and straining; then boiling with wheat flour and sugar. According to Hartwell, the tubers are used in folk remedies for felons and cancers. Tubers are harvested 5 to 6 months after planting. Two crops can be attained in rainy season. Chufa Oil is obtained by pressing cleaned tubers.
