Kūmara — season, tips, and recipes in New Zealand
Kūmara is a vegetables available in New Zealand during January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, peaking in April, May, June. This page is a practical guide for home cooks: when to buy kūmara, how to pick a good one, how to store it, what it goes well with, three original recipes, and detailed nutrition information.
Grown in NZ for 700+ years, brought by Polynesian voyagers. Northland's Kaipara district produces roughly 80% of NZ's crop.
How to pick a good one
Firm, no soft spots or sprouting. Three types: Owairaka Red (red/white), Beauregard (orange), gold. Orange is sweetest.
How to store it
Cool dark place, never fridge. Cold damages cells. Lasts weeks.
Goes well with
coconut: Coconut's fat carries kumara's beta-carotene and amplifies its sweetness. Used together in Pacific cooking for centuries -- the combination is geographically as well as flavour-logical.
chilli: Chilli's heat contrasts with kumara's sweetness in a way that makes both more interesting. The combination appears across Caribbean and Asian cooking.
lime: Lime acid cuts through kumara's sweetness and prevents it from being one-dimensional. The combination is the basis of most good kumara salads.
cumin: Cumin's earthy, warm notes add savoury depth to kumara's sweetness and make it work better in main courses rather than as a sweet side.
Recipes
Kūmara Wedges
Better than chips.
Ingredients: 2 kūmara, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp smoked paprika, salt
Method: Cut into wedges. Toss with oil, paprika, salt. Spread on tray. Roast 200C for 30 min, flipping once, until crispy.
Kūmara & Coconut Soup
Creamy, warming, winter perfect.
Ingredients: 2 kūmara, 1 onion, 400ml coconut cream, 500ml stock, 1 tsp curry powder, 1 tbsp oil
Method: Sweat onion with curry powder. Add diced kūmara and stock. Simmer 20 min. Add coconut cream. Blend smooth.
Roasted Kūmara Salad
Warm salad. Works as a main.
Ingredients: 2 kūmara, 1 tin chickpeas (drained), 100g feta, handful rocket, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method: Cube kūmara. Toss with oil. Roast 200C for 25 min. Toss with chickpeas, rocket, crumbled feta, lemon juice.
Nutrition
One medium kūmara provides 400% of your daily vitamin A (from beta-carotene), 35% of your vitamin C, and 4g of fibre. The orange varieties have the most beta-carotene. About 103 calories. Gram for gram, kūmara provides more vitamin A than any other common vegetable. It was a key food source for early Māori for good reason.