Lower Inflammation with Tiger Nuts

I discovered tiger nuts by chance a few years back and bought a bag home to try and realized they were a cool new chewy snack to put into the mix.

In their natural form tiger nuts look like corn nuts and have a very chewy satisfying texture. I started using tiger nut flour in recipes as it is a stand-alone gluten free flour that has a sweeter taste and nice texture for cookies and treats.

Two months ago, I was in McCall Idaho at the Natural Grocers organic grocery store and discovered sliced tiger nuts from a company called Tiger Nuts USA, that carries many tiger nut products such as tiger nut oil, nuts, flour, whole and sliced nuts. I fell in love with reintroducing tiger nuts into my diet.  The good news is since they are not a nut, they don’t have the risk of food allergies/sensitives and don’t have that high omega 6/pro-inflammatory content.

So WHAT are tiger nuts? They are an ancient crop that originated in Spain. Known as the “underground walnut,” they are really a tuber or healthy starch that contain omega 3s or anti-inflammatory oils like olive oil. The starch is healthy fiber that can prevent colon cancer and help gastrointestinal disorders.  The nutritional content varies depending on soil conditions, but they are all approximately 50% oil and 50% starch/tuber. 

Tiger nuts also contain flavonoids which are anti-inflammatory as well as having an antioxidant effect. The two main flavonoids are quercetin and myricetin. Quercetin is well known for its antibacterial, anti-viral effect and is used in those with allergies, histamine responses and was even used to help with preventing and treating COVID. Myricetin is a strong antioxidant that can lower inflammation and is thought to have benefits in prevention of cancer and diabetes.

Tiger nuts are now available whole, sliced, as a flour, an oil and a milk. I have a bottle of the oil, and the taste is amazing and rich, like a very good quality extra virgin olive oil.

I will be developing more recipes with tiger nut flour this coming year but for now there are recipes on the blog for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, lemon cake and dill biscuits. If you’ve been using a lot of nuts and nut flours, you run the risk of increasing omega 6s or inflammation so perhaps alternating this in the mix will assist in lowering inflammation. You won’t be disappointed and as long as you are purchasing an organic version you will also be lowering your risk of exposure to pesticides.

Less pesticides, gluten and higher levels of omega 3s, healthy fiber and flavonols – a great way to start the New Year!