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Little hard fruits, with a slightly sweet, milky taste with a hazelnut flavor.
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Tiger nut is an amuse-bouche that can be found on the stalls of some rare fruit sellers in the West African sub-region. It is becoming increasingly popular and is beginning to attract the attention of farmers, researchers, processors and authorities because many of its virtues make it a nutritional treasure.
Produced in many countries in Europe, the Middle East and West Africa (Burkina, Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali), tiger nut has long been neglected and even considered a wild herb. , sometimes grown just for local consumption.
These tubers look like small, more or less round, slightly hard, brown or yellow fruits. They come from a perennial plant which is also called “sweet pea”, “tiger nut” or even in African languages ”tchongon” (Ivory Coast), “Efio” (mina/Togo), “ndir” (wolof /Senegal), “atadwe” (Ghana).
They are eaten raw, cooked or even grilled as a delicacy. Some soak them in water before consumption. They have a slightly sweet, milky taste with a nutty flavor.
These nuts contain calcium and are very rich in energy nutrients as well as protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, fiber, vitamin C.
Magnesium allows calcium to bind to the bones and is necessary for the functioning of the kidneys. Potassium is useful for good blood pressure while playing a favorable role in cardiac activity.
Dr Ousmane Ouedraogo, nutritionist and president of the Nutrition Society of Burkina Faso adds that “the nutrient content of 100 g of tiger nut determined on the basis of laboratory analyzes is 452 kilocalories, 4 g of protein, 25 g of lipids, 57 g of carbohydrates, 48 mg of calcium, 6 mg of vitamin C, 3 mg of iron and traces of vitamins of group B. In addition to this, tigernuts contain fibers which help in good digestion”.
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Tiger nut milk is a vegetable milk very appreciated for its hazelnut taste.
Gluten-free, it is ideal for those with gluten allergies and those on a sugar-free diet.
Dr. Ousmane Ouedraogo explains that the tiger nut is transformed into juice or milk commonly called “horchata”, into oil for consumption and cosmetics as well as into flour used to make cakes, cakes and biscuits.
Tigernut milk is believed by some to prevent colon cancer, due to its high fiber content, nutrient E, magnesium, and saturating properties which also help skin glow.
Tiger nut oil is very popular because its nutritional and therapeutic qualities are said to be comparable to olive oil in particular. Golden brown in color, it has unique nutritional properties for use in food (fried foods, seasonings) and cosmetics.
Tigernut tubers are also used to make tigernut flour, used in baking.
Producers, processors, traders, donors and researchers try to better promote its culture and to make it competitive on the international market.
We see for example that in Niger the tiger nut has become a substitute product in the face of the decline of a cash crop such as groundnut.
The country produced 52,044 tonnes of tiger nut during the 2021 campaign according to the Nigerien Ministry of Agriculture, which reports an average increase of 14% during the last 5 years.
Peasants have always produced it in home fields, but this crop had gained momentum in the area following the decline of groundnuts for two main reasons: tiger nut is popular in neighboring Nigeria and the land allocated to the cultivation of groundnut are well adapted to it.
Bori Haoua, a specialist agronomist who published a study on the advantages and constraints of tiger nut cultivation in Niger, believes that the nutritional composition of these tubers can promote their incorporation into the diet of the Nigerien population.
At a time when this product is gaining popularity, he insists that tiger nut should be supported by scientific research.
Internationally, some are increasingly considering tiger nut as a “superfood”.
Ousmane Ouedraogo tells us what he thinks: “Regarding its nutritional composition, tiger nut can be considered a food that naturally provides several nutrients in reasonable quantities, so it can be considered a superfood.
Despite this, one food alone does not allow us to meet all our nutritional needs. This is why we need to eat several food groups a day. For example, women need 4 food groups per day and children need at least 4 groups per day”.
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Tiger nut flour, rich in vegetable fibers, and especially in insoluble fibers.
So far, tiger nut is not really tracked separately in the official statistical data of most West African countries. Efforts are made to provide producers with varieties adapted to different types of soil in order to boost production. However, it is above all seen as a crop with strong export potential and industrial processing is almost non-existent.
On the other hand, in a country like Spain (Valencia region), the production of tiger nut is done on a large scale and is followed by processing for the food industry mainly due to the growing consumer demand for “horchata de chufa”, a Spanish drink produced from these tubers.
