Melissa
Kaplan's
Herp Care Collection
Last updated
January 1, 2014
You Say Yuca, I Say Yucca
©2000 Melissa Kaplan
There are many plants/tubers called yuca or yucca - some are safe to eat, some aren't (see chart below). The following information was culled from a number of sources, including:
Plants
for a Future
The
Cook's Thesaurus
Photos
Casava (yucca) root
Malanga root
Tapioca (taro) root
Uses
People in Hispanic countries
use cassavas (also called manioc, mandioca, yucca, yuca, yucca root, yuca
root, Brazilian arrowroot) much like those of us in the U.S. use potatoes.
Some of the tubers are sweet even when eaten raw; others are bitter. In
the case of the Agavaceae, most times the bitterness seems to be in the
skin, so peeling the tuber before using or cooking should greatly reduce
the bitterness (which is due to its prussic acid content). Fresh tubers
can be hard to peel; nuking it for a minute or so may make it easier,
just as it does with winter squash. The fresh tubers don't have a long
shelf life, so use within a couple of days of purchase.
The flowers, especially the young ones of must Yucca species are tender and sweet when eaten raw. You can even stuff them with a savory vegetable/bread crumb stuffing and steam or bake them.
|
Botanical Name / Synonym |
Common Names |
Status (Family) |
|
Actaea rubra |
Banana yucca |
All parts are toxic (Ranunculaceae) |
|
Yucca aloifolia |
Aloe Yucca, Bayoneta, Spanish Bayonet, Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked; flowering stem: peeled and boiled like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca angustissima |
Fine-leaf Yucca, Narrowleaf Yucca |
Fruit: immature fruit is cooked; flowers: raw or cooked; flowering stem: peeled, the whitish inner portion is cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca baccata |
Amole, Banana Yucca, Blue Yucca, Spanish Bayonnet, Wild Date, Yucca, Banana |
Fruit: raw, cooked or dried for winter use; flower buds: cooked; a soapy taste - older flowers are best tasting; flowering stems: cooked; seed: cooked. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca constricta |
Buckley's yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca elata |
Palmella, Palmilla, Soap Tree, Soaptree, Soaptree Yucca, Soapweed, Yucca, Soaptree |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca filamentosa |
Spoonleaf yucca; Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked - can be bitter; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca glauca |
Soapweed; Plains Yucca; Soapweed Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked - skin bitter; flowers: raw or cooked - can be bitter; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca gloriosa |
Spanish dagger, Moundlily Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked - can be bitter; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca recurvifolia |
Curveleaf Yucca; Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked - can be bitter; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca rupicola |
Twisted-leaf yucca; Texas Yucca; Twist-leaf Yucca; Twistleaf Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked - can be bitter; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca schidigera |
Mojave yucca |
Young flowering stems: chopped and cooked like asparagus or baked like a sweet potato; fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: delicious raw, can be cooked. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca smalliana |
Adam's needle, Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: raw or cooked - can be bitter; flowering stem: cooked and used like asparagus. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
|
Yucca whipplei |
Our Lord's candle; Chaparral Yucca |
Fruit: raw or cooked; flowers: young delicious raw or cooked, older flowers probably very bitter; flowering stem: raw or cooked; seed: cooked. Note: saponins. (Agavaceae) |
Saponins:
The roots contain saponins which are quite toxic to people. However, they
are poorly absorbed by the body, and so tend to pass straight through,
and they are destroyed by prolonged heat, such as slow baking in an oven.
Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting
tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes,
etc., in order to stupefy or kill the fish.
Useful Sites
Homecooking.about.com's Edible (and toxic) Flowers
Melissa's (this is the produce company with the pretty purple labels, not me!!)
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