The Latest Casualty of Climate Change? Good Shepherd's Purple Ube Jam

Is ube really ube without its distinctive violet hue? While ube—or purple yam—is known for its royal color, the yam can actually exist in plain white. In fact, Good Shepherd, who is best known for their ube jam, shares on their official Facebook page that they will be offering white ube jam in lieu of their usual due to a shortage of purple yams.

"Due to changing climate, our ube farmers are having difficulty growing ube. It has been our struggle in recent years to find a stable supply. And in the past weeks there were none," shares Good Shepherd on their Facebook page. But they—and several comments on the post—assure that the white ube jam tastes just like the real thing. After all, white ube is made from purple yam of a different variant (hence the white color). If anything, this is a reminder that the climate crisis is real, and we might be seeing more changes in the way we eat and the produce we get in the future because of it.

This story originally appeared on Spot.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.