Apios Americana

Apios Americana is a perpetual vine native to eastern North America. This perennial vine bears edible beans as well as large edible tubers. The tubers are cruncher and nutritious and also have high content of starch and protein. This groundnut is occasionally naturalized in South Europe.

Apios Americana Common Name

Apios Americana is popular as Indian Potato.

Apios Americana Description

This groundnut is the most edible wild plant in North America. The inhabitants of the region are happy with the benefits that they are enjoying because of this groundnut since a long time.

Height: It grows to 3-4 m in length.

Leaves: The leaves are pinnate and are 8-15 cm long with 5-7 leaflets.

Stem: The stem is thin and fragile.

Flowers: The flowers are red brown to purple. The flowers occur in clusters

Fruit: The fruit is a legume and is 5-12 cm long.

Apios Americana Picture Picture 1 – Apios Americana

Apios Americana Plant

Apios Americana is a wild plant and is a great future food source. It is also termed as Hopniss and it serve as an imperative food crop. This tropical vine is known for its pear shaped edible tubers. The tubers taste sweet. Hopniss grows 10 m in length along with flowers that bloom from July to October. The edible tubers look like that of a grapefruit. The edible tubers contain 17% legume protein. The tubers can be dug at any time of the year.

Apios Americana Distribution

Apios Americana is largely seen in North America. Apart from that, this groundnut is also seen in Ontario and Quebec the north of Gulf of Mexico and also in the Atlantic coast. The Amerindians of this region prefer having this groundnut because of its nutritional benefits.

Apios Americana Cultivation

Growing groundnut plant is not that hard. Groundnut prefers growing in rich, moist soil and that also in open woodlands. The plant needs support and it is never found growing in full sun. The plant grows itself and that also quite fast. The plant colonizes via rhizomes to form dense climbing masses. The plant is cultivated occasionally for its edible root.

Apios Americana Harvesting

Groundnut pod development takes place in the soil making it difficult to judge the maturity of the crop. It is not that hard to carry out the harvesting operation without much loss of quality and yields. The best time to harvest is when good numbers of pods are developed properly. Maturity of the pods is gained when the vine turns yellow.

Apios Americana Nutritional Value

Given here is the value of different nutrients in 100 grams groundnut.

Calcium 93 mg
Carbohydrate 16.13 gm
Copper 11.44 mg
Fat 49.24 g
Fiber 8.5 gm
Iron 4.58 mg
Magnesium 168 mg
Manganese 1.934 mg
Phosphorus 376 mg
Potassium 705 mg
Protein 25.80 gm
Sodium 18 mg
Water 6.50 gm
Zinc 3.27 mg

Apios Americana Health Benefits

Groundnut is a healthy snack. This healthy snack is grown in different parts of the world.

Pictures of Apios Americana Picture 2 – Apios Americana Picture

  • Groundnut is very efficient in treating hemophilia.
  • Those suffering from nose bleeding can start consuming groundnut from today onwards.
  • Groundnuts are rich in vitamins and minerals
  • Roasted groundnuts are good for kids and nursing mothers.
  • Presence of rich antioxidants reduces cancer risk.

Apios Americana Uses

Groundnut became widely popular because of its health benefits and satisfactory usage.

Edible Uses

The edible parts of the plant are the tubers and beans. The tuber can be dried and ground into a powder and then is used for thickening in soups. The powder can be added to cereal flours when preparing bread. Tubers contain 17% protein and are healthier than potatoes.

Medicinal Uses

  • Apios Americana can be used for curing wounds and also to stimulate growth of healthy tissue.
  • It is also used for maggot treatment.
  • Gout can also be treated by daily consumption of Apios Americana.
  • The tubers are used in folk remedies for the cancerous condition termed as Proud Flesh in England.

Other Uses

The plant contains latex that can be used in the production of rubber.

Apios Americana during Pregnancy

Having groundnut during pregnancy is not good. Expert suggests women to desist from regular eating of groundnut during pregnancy for the betterment of their health.

Apios Americana Storage

First of all the pods have to be dried to less than 8% moisture before storing. Before stocking up the seeds, the damaged ones have to be alienated. Proper care is needed.

Apios Americana Availability

Groundnuts are accessible at the grocery stores. The market price is quite high because the fact that these nuts are always in demand. One can also have it from the online stores.

Apios Americana Recipes

There are some awesome dishes prepared using groundnuts.

  • Groundnut Burfi
  • Groundnut chikki
  • Groundnut Rice
  • Groundnut pachadi

 

Apios Americana Side Effects

Sometimes over consumption of groundnuts can result in some side effects.

  • It boosts the triglycerides level that leads to some severe health problems.
  • Groundnuts also have high testosterone level.
  • Groundnuts also increase weight. So those suffering because of excessive weight should not have it daily.

Apios Americana Interesting facts

Apart from being a healthy nut, groundnut also has some interesting facts.

  • The tubers of the plant can be made the same way as potatoes.
  • Groundnut has all the required nutrients.
  • Roasted ones fight against infection like hepatitis and tuberculosis.

Apios Americana Pictures

Take a look at some of the images of Apios Americana.

Images of Apios Americana Picture 3 – Apios Americana Image

Photos of Apios Americana Picture 4 – Apios Americana Photo

References

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/apios-americana/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apios_americana

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