Monday, February 25, 2008

Konnyaku (Yam Cake)


This block of Konnyaku has been sitting in the fridge for quite some time. Dd kept asking when are we going to try it - but I had a hard time figuring out if you can eat it raw...never did find out but we taste tested it raw anyway.

It looks very unappetizing and using the name cake in it is deceiving - it's like calling a bar of soap a cake of soap (which I've heard)...but it's nothing like cake at all.

Konnayku is marketed as a weight loss food (not the reason I purchased it) - for a 3 oz serving is has 10 calories.

One article I read said that it expands like 500 times in your innards filling you up and therefore keeping your from eating more fun - thus losing weight. The idea of something expanding any amount of time in my innards was not appealing. I think the whole expansion idea might be more myth than medical. Other articles claim that it is totally tasteless and very chewy and glutinous (a horrid word when describing food!).

Ingredients are "purified water", yam flour and hydrated lime.

I opened the bag and took a sniff. Kind of fishy smelling - totally unexpected. I was ready to hurl it into the trash (rather than risk hurling). I told dd to smell it and she said, "It smells like the area in the zoo where the penguins live." Good I thought - we can toss it. So I said "I guess you don't want to taste it then?" "No - I do want to taste it!" She added enthusiastically.



Dd tried it bravely. "Tastes like NOTHING...chewy and no flavor at all."

Ds also eager to try it, "Same thing (tastes like nothing) but also like bamboo shoots." "Yeah that's what it tastes like," the girl agreed.

I was very hesitant to taste it. It looked like a clearish white block of cheesey rubber. I don't like jello as a rule - and it had that appearance - but firmer and cloudy. I tasted it.

It did indeed taste like "nothing". I know some people just add it to a stir fry - some say it takes on the flavor of other stuff - some says - it remains flavorless.

I threw the rest away. Dd was upset. She wanted more. "Whenever I don't like something you want me to try another bite and now I like this and you threw it away." She unhappily commented.

This tasteless block was about $2.00.

5 comments:

Dianna said...

Creepy! It seems like a totally pointless food.

Anonymous said...

Found that Konnyaku noodles work well with fish and/or veggie broth. If you heat up the bowl of noodles and broth it eventually soaks in the flavor. Trying it raw turned me off the first time too.

Anonymous said...

You're supposed to cook it, not just eat it raw! Look up konnyaku steak recipes.

Anonymous said...

Isn't already cooked package food? ....all you need to do it to reheat it...?

Anonymous said...

It's a base that you're supposed to add flavor to. It's just like the concept of noodles, if you eat it raw and unseasoned, it's gonna taste raw and unseasoned.... lol