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Barb Hodgens
Barb Hodgens loves to cook with alternative, healthy whole food ingredients, with a focus on gut health. Barb has overcome her own gut health issues through healthy eating. Share your ideas, comments and photos at the end of this post :)
Tigernuts originated from Africa and have been eaten for thousands of years. Despite being a vital ingredient for our ancestors’, you may never have even heard of them. These wrinkled, marble-sized gems however, are getting loads of praise lately, with some primal foodies regarding them asa baking superfood.
Tigernuts earn their name from a tiger-striped exterior, but don't be fooled, they are actually not a nut. Tigernuts are a root vegetable or more specifically, small tubers that are gluten and grain free. Tigernuts are completely safe for people with any sort of nut or wheat allergy and make them a wonderful alternative for anyone following a paleo diet.
The virtues are plentiful. Tiger nuts are rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and plant-based protein. They are also the highest source of resistant starch, which is a prebiotic fibre that resists digestion and feeds the good probiotic bacteria in the gut.
Tigernuts can be eaten fresh like a nut, if you’re lucky enough to source them, but are most commonly sold dried, which conveniently locks in all the goodness, so they can be stored for longer. They’re the size of a chickpea but wrinkly with a chewy texture and sweet nutty flavour that tastes somewhere between an almond and coconut. Tigernuts are most commonly ground into flour or made into milk. We’ll bring you homemade tigermilk over the next few weeks.
The Luvele kitchen has put the Vibe Blender System to the test and made homemade flourfrom all sorts of nuts, seeds and grainsrecently, so we thought it the perfect time to try out tigernut flour.
TIGERNUT FLOUR CAN BE MADE TWO WAYS.
Tigernut pulp flour: is made bydehydrating the pulp fibre leftover from making tigernut milk, (coming soon). The texture is light and airy and is better described as meal than flour.Pulp tigernut flour is popular for low-carbers and those following a keto diet because it is almost pure fibre and has far less carbohydrate than the whole nut flour version. Tigernut pulp flour is also a great addition to homemade muesli, granola bars, or simply dehydrated and used as a nutritious and crunchy topping on homemade yogurt.
Pure whole tigernut flour: is made by grinding whole driedtigernut tubers. It is finer and denser than the pulp version and comes with the full nutritional package of the original nut. Continue reading for the step by step method.
BAKING WITH TIGER NUT FLOUR
Whole tigernut flour is very versatile and can be used on its own or in combination with other flours for biscuits, cakes and breads. To produce baking with a fluffy texture similar to whole wheat flour, we recommend combining tigernut flourwith a portion of tapioca flour. Tigernut flour is also naturally sweeter than most alternative flours so it may even be possible to reduce the quantity of sugar or sweetener in your recipe.
TIPS FOR GRINDING TIGERNUTS IN THE VIBE BLENDER SYSTEM
Not any old blender will be able to handle the heavy load of grinding dried tigernuts to a consistent fine powder. Unless your blender has a high-speed motor and stainless-steel blades it may only make a coarse meal. Here are some tips to help you achieve the best flour possible.
- Ensure the blender jug is completely dry
- Grind only 1 cup at a time so the tigernuts rotate evenly in the jug and are not weighing down on the blades
- Select the ‘nut’ mode so that the blender is set to the fastest speed.
- Blend in batches so that the jug doesn’t overheat or become coated in oil.
- Tigernuts are quite soft and grind into flour very quickly, approximately 20 seconds is all that is required.
- Tigernuts also have a high oil content and may become sticky around the blades if blended for too long. If you are new to grinding flour in the Vibe blender, we recommend stopping once to check the consistency and scraping under the blades if necessary.
SIFTING
Choosing to sift the fresh flour is optional and will depend on what you plan to bake. Most recipes on the Luvele Life blog don’t require sifting but deciding to do so will produce a finer flour.
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