The Chinese yam that looks as small as somevarieties of Irish potato, seen at the Trelawny Yam Festival at the Hague Showgrounds on Easter Monday.

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Trelawny is famous for yams of all varieties: Negro, yampie, white, mozella, Chinese, St. Vincent, sweet, bitter and gashie yams, yet the vegetable resembles a large white floury potato. And all were on show at the Trelawny Yam Festival on Easter Monday.

Pizza, chocolate and fruitcakes, pineapple upside down cake and wine, pickled pepper, salsa and iced coffee made from the incredibly versatile yellow yam, made the difference at the calendar event at the Hague Showgrounds, Trelawny.

Almost spoilt by the rains that threatened to derail the rich culinary history of the parish, the area was transformed into yellow yam country, as cooking teams and vendors showcased the richness of the by-products to be derived from the staple.

Yam Fruit Cake

Yam pineapple upside down by Winnifred Watson of Jackson Town, Trelawny. - Photos by Janet Silvera

Ingredients: for baking a small yam fruitcake

One cup flour, substituted with one cup of grated dry yellow yam

2 cups of mixed fruits (prunes, cherry, mixed peel)

One cup water/wine

Half teaspoon baking powder

One teaspoon baking soda

One melted margarine

Sometimes green papaya is used as a preservative.

This fruitcake doesn't need eggs or milk, the fruits and raisins give it the taste.

Soak fruits for at least one month. If this is not possible, boil the red wine and pour over the fruits overnight.

In the morning after all ingredients are blended, place in oven and bake for one hour at 250 degrees.

If the oven is too hot, place a pan of cold water beneath the bottom shelf to minimise the heat.

Test the readiness of the cake by placing a knife in it. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is ready.

Let the cake standfor about 10 minutes, then pour red wine over it.

Yam Iced Coffee

Cook the yellow yam, and then blend until it becomes very soft, almost like a mashed potato. Add coffee, milk, sugar and cocoa and blend all until you get a frothy drink.

Yam Pizza

Yam pizza with cheese and chicken franks by Wilbert Reeves.

This pizza is preferred above Dominoes Pizza in Grand Cayman, says Wilbert Reeves, a resident of Mandeville, who now lives in that Caribbean island.

Reeves said the yellow yam must be extremely dry, then ground.

Mix equal portions of flour with yellow yam to get the crust of the pizza. He then adds either cheese, onion, sweet peppers, vegetables, pepperoni or a full house of all these ingredients to make this exciting yam pizza.

Roast yam vendor Balvin Hughes of Albert Town, Trelawny, scrapes outer coating of burnt skin from a piece of yellow yam for one of his many customers at the Trelawny Yam Festival at the Hague Showgrounds on Easter Monday.