Tiger nut, chufa, earth almond
(Cyperus esculentus – Family Cyperaceae)
Tiger nuts are fruits from a perennial which, like the potato plant, sends out underground runners. It is shunned as a weed in the majority of warm countries because of its creeping, rapidly expanding roots. It was the Arabs who brought this Cyprus grass plant from Africa to Southern Europe. It is now cultivated on only a small scale in North Africa and Spain, where it is esteemed for its nutritional content, as well as its nutty almond-like taste. These rhizomes are acorn-sized and chestnut brown to blackish-brown, with a wrinkled skin.
