Hi gardener972,
Im puerto rican and in my family we eat boiled name with salted codfish called bacalao and other root vegetables,it very good, you can eat it like you would a potato or yuca. Its been in my familys' cooking for generations and generations. My grandmother also grew one years ago and the plant was beautiful, enjoy!

Is there another name for it because I can't find anything about it on the internet. Do you peel it and how long would you boil it? What would you season it with?

Gardener972,

The correct spelling is ñame and you eat it just like amandapanda says. Treat it like a potato. In Cuba, we boil it and eat like potato. Also fry it like chips.

They are consired Tubers and are also called Yams.

Here is a link

http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Name-Root.aspx

Oooohhhhh, thats where the accent button on my keyboard is lol
Racor is absolutely right!
Gardener972,email me if you want a yummy recipe, I am quite the cook if I dont say so myself lol :)

Thank you! I was just looking for the same thing! Good link, too! :-D

How do you cook Name, do you peel it like a potato? Cook it like a potato?

Anyone have information on growing this yam? I managed to root some and have a great vine. How do I cultivate it?

Veronica in central Florida

I did a bit of research on this and came up with the name being Dioscorea batatas, Chinese yam, Chinese potato, Name. Around the world it more commonly known as Chinese Yam and searches on that name will get more information.

This is part of the information I found on cultivation:

An easily grown plant, succeeding in a fertile well-drained soil in a sunny position or light shade, though it is best in full sun. Plants are hardy to at least -18c. This species of yam is much cultivated in China for its edible root which can be up to 1 metre long. It has a great potential to be a commercial crop in Britain, though a satisfactory method of harvesting the root needs to be found. Plants take 3 - 4 years to reach full maturity, though one year roots of well grown plants can weigh more than 500g. There are many cultivated forms with different root shapes in China and Japan. The yam is a climbing plant that supports itself by twining around the branches of other plants. It can be grown successfully into small bushes or, perhaps simpler when being grown as a root crop, it can be grown up a frame in a similar manner to growing runner beans. Plants produce tubercles (small tubers that are formed in the leaf axils of the stems), and can be propagated by this means. The small white flowers have a pleasant scent of cinnamon. There is some confusion over the correct name for this species. One report says that D. batatas is an invalid name that is often erroneously applied to two distinct species D. opposita and D. japonica. The Flora of China accepts D. batatas as a synonym for D. polystachya. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Thank you, Tropicalbreezent! Just what I needed.

Veronica

The pictures I found on line for Dioscorea batatas look exactly like an annoyingly persistent weed in my backyard someone called "cinnamon vine". I'm glad I didn't buy a name at the grocery store today to plant and see what came up!

Just came across a recipe for egg rolls called Cha Gio. They use the vegetable, name in it. It also says you can use taro root instead of name if necessary.

Chinese Yam is not the same thing.

That's the problem with common names. Chinese Yam could possibly be a lot of different things, depending on who you ask.

I am from Panama and a name is similiar to a potato. We used them in soups stews and our sancocho.

I bought "Namee"(how it was rendered at the store) from an Asian place. It looked exactly like the tuber widely cultivated in West Africa which we simply call "Yam".

The West African yam belongs to the Discorea family with a variety of species (Discorea Alata-Water yam, Discorea Cayensis-Yellow yam, Discorea Esculentum- White yam).

On cooking it I found 'namee' tasted just the same. In Nigeria, we cook yam in many ways.

We boil it & eat it with scrambled eggs prepared with sardines.

It could be fried. It's cut into thinner strips though. With the result being crisp outside & soft inside.

It also could be roasted on an open fire. In this case the back becomes blackened, but you scrape it off with a knife to reveal an edible brown crust around the white inside. Eat with butter or Palm oil& a little salt to taste.

It could be cooked in a fish soup we refer to as "Pepper Soup". It's made with spices mixed with water. Shrimps& bits of preferred vegetables like spinach or celery. The preferred fish is the Catfish. Salmon could be substituted. Season according to taste & cook together, making sure there's a soupy residue (don't allow the water to dry up).

The 'Namee' seems to be some 'baby form' of the West African Yam, as I've not seen one of a considerably large size.

Name can be very large, Femi, and although I can not seem to find it in Edmonton, I wish I could. I miss the Sancocho Gallina of Panama, where my other home is, no other yam has quite tasted the same, just as substituting Cilantro for Culantro, strongly changes the flavour of the wonderful soup.

Not really sure how to cook it, but according to the wegmans tag, the flesh has a nutty flavor

Ñame is a root vegetable in the family of Yautia and Malanga it has nuttier flavor it can be boil like a potatoe but is mainly used for sancocho (stew)

Im sure each country has a lot of recipes for it I am not a fan of ñame but thats just me enjoy it give it try and see what you think..