Summary

The author, despite generally preferring blue, finds appreciation for the color purple through the experience of harvesting and enjoying a purple yam from their garden.

Abstract

While writing a lengthy post, the author decides to split it, drawing inspiration from recent Medium posts featuring the color purple. Although not typically a fan of purple, the author fondly recounts the experience of digging up a purple yam, a favorite among the yams in their garden. The process is described from marking the vine, unearthing the yam, to preparing and savoring it, highlighting the beauty and taste of the purple yam and its superiority over white yams due to its additional sweetness and the color that gives it a unique flavor. The author's appreciation for the purple hue is solidified through the sensory experience of consuming the freshly harvested yam.

Opinions

The author prefers blue over purple but acknowledges the appeal of purple in the context of purple yams.
Purple yams are favored by the author for their taste and the natural hue that signifies their quality.
The author values the immediacy of consuming the yam after harvesting, emphasizing its enhanced taste when fresh.
There is a hint of disappointment when the yam turns out to be a hybrid, as a pure purple yam is considered more desirable.
The author enjoys the purple yam with simple preparations, appreciating the natural flavors and the traditional way of eating it in their country.
The experience of harvesting and eating the purple yam leads the author to reconsider their opinion on the color purple positively.

ESSAY

My Perfect Purple Hue in Nature

Though, I am not a fan of color purple

While working on a post today, I noticed it was getting too lengthy, so I decided to split it into two separate posts.

I thought of a way to do that, and then I remembered a recent set of posts featuring purple, here in Medium. So, keeping my original post in the draft folder, I thought to write something about the color purple.

Honestly, I’m not a fan of purple; I prefer blue. However, there’s one situation where I won’t turn down the color purple.

If you recall, I wrote about Dioscorea yams in our garden a few weeks ago.

A Sunny Day in the Yard Following the Rain

Witnessing changes in the environment

medium.com

There is a specific yam type called Purple yam, my favorite among these yams. It has a lovely shade of purple, hence the name.

Our father has already marked the vines to dig up this year because we typically harvest yams once every other year. So, it was easy to find a suitable vine to dig out, as my parents were away attending a funeral.

Unlike other yams, purple yam rhizomes run close to the ground’s surface. So only a mamoty is more than enough. I cleared the surroundings and separated the vine. Then, I began digging around it.

Ouch! It seems like I damaged the flesh with my first strike. If my father were around, I would hear another repetition of ‘How to cut a Thampala Tree.’ Anyhow, after a good fifteen or twenty minutes, I unearthed the yam, literally.

It was not a large one. Still, it was true beauty. I had to clean off the mud with water to see the perfect natural hue of purple. Isn’t it magnificent?

Purple yam tastes more if you consume it as soon as you have dug out. So, I didn’t want to wait even a minute. Since my wife was attending Sunday laundry, I had to get assistance from my sister. She separated a piece and cut it into large chunks.

To my disappointment, this was not a pure purple yam. It had some hybrid properties of white yam and purple yam. Perhaps this vine was a result of cross-pollination. A pure purple one would have a dark purple hue, almost close to the black color, like iodine.

There is a reason I prefer purple yam over white because whatever gives the color also offers an additional sweet taste.

There are several ways to prepare purple yams, but boiling them is the easiest and quickest. So, I asked my sister to follow that method. There is a saying in our country, “It is possible to wait until yam growing, but not until they are preparing.” I felt it was accurate, as I checked whether they were cooked enough.

It was easy to identify yams were well cooked by the aroma spreading around. As soon as I noticed that, I switched off the stove and helped myself with a couple large chunks of yam, still steaming. I preferred having some grated coconut to go with the yam and a few pods of bird-eye chilies.

Actually, the color purple is not a bad one. The exact thought came to mind when helping myself with a second serving.