True Thai's purple yams come from Hawaii, but I first discovered this tasty tuber by eating Malaysian food. The Filipinos call purple yam ube, and are using it as a popular flavoring in desserts, snacks, ice cream and even for milk! They also make snack chips from ube, which are then eaten during periods of religious fasting.
Sometimes if you can find purple yams at the store they will be from Okinawa where they are also very popular, not to mention adaptible. Purple yams are now popular in almost every kind of Asian cuisine. I shouldn't just say Asian as I recently found online a recipe for purple yam gnocchi!
Don't laugh, at least not until you've had a purple yam soufflé or — and I am not kidding — Purple Yam Porter from Laughing Cow Brewery.
Healthwise purple yams are chock full of Vitamin C, B6, potassium and antioxidants. That and their wonderful flavor has made them quickly grow in popularity. How popular? Google now comes up with 279,000 matches for "purple yam"!
I am still undecided as to whether or not to offer purple milk to our customers. That is a Filipino and not a Thai custom, but if it gets kids to drink their milk....
