Fresh ube has a very mild, earthy, and nutty flavor. It's in fact not sweet. The sweet "ube" flavor and smell we've all grown to love is actually a product of a combination of ingredients–condensed milk/ sugar for sweetness, evaporated milk/ coconut milk for the added richness, and butter which elevates the starchy texture. What I'm basically describing here is ube jam (ube halaya), the foundation of almost all ube recipes.