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Air Potato Harvested From The Ground - Dioscorea Bulbifera - Mati Alu - Hardy Tropical Climbing Plant

Dioscorea bulbifera, commonly known as air potato, is a type of yam from the Dioscorea genus, native to warmer regions and popular in India, especially in West Bengal, Odisha, and Assam. Varieties like purple yam and greater yam are also part of this group. Yams are essential agricultural products in cultural rituals and are typically consumed as starchy vegetables, often boiled, mashed, fried, or roasted. They are nutritious, with a distinctive earthy flavor, featured in curries, chips, and various dishes. Yam plants are climbing vines that produce bulbils (aerial tubers) and tuberous roots. They have thick, bark-like skin on their tubers. Digging up Dioscorea bulbifera (air potato) tubers requires care because the plant is an invasive, fast-spreading vine with delicate stems that break easily, and its underground roots can be deep or tangled. The best time to harvest is during winter, when the vine dies back and the plant enters dormancy. Here, a farmer carefully digs the soil with a shovel, then pulls out the air potatoes with great effort, cleans and cuts them, and then uses them to cook an Indian curry on December 21, 2025. While digging the soil, various types of centipedes and grubs emerge one after another. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)

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