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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.

Yucca

Botanical Name / Synonym

Common Names

Status (Family)

Actaea rubra
A. arguta

Banana yucca
Red Baneberry

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
Y. circinata

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
Y. radiosa

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
Y. concava
Y. flaccida
Y. recurvifolia
Y. smalliana
Y. filifera
Y. f.
var. concava
Y. f. var. smalliana

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
Y. angustifolia

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
Y. pallida
Y. tortifolia

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
Y. californica
Y. macrocarpa
Y. mohavensis

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
Y. f.
non L.

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
Y. funifera
Hesperoyucca funifera
Hesperoyucca 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!!)

Melissa's: Yuca Root

 

Related Articles

Vegetable & Fruit Names

www.anapsid.org/resources/yucca.html

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