Flower petals, raw or cooked though raw they usually give me a stomach ache, at best throat ache.  Try your raw blossoms carefully. Identify yucca plants. With the branches and stems removed, use a shovel to dig a hole about 3 feet around the stump and 3 to 4 feet deep into the ground to cover the yucca’s large root network. Many different yucca species grow in Texas and all have edible flowers and fruit. Not exactly a survival activity. This is not true, yuca root (cassava) and its derivatives (like tapioca); are very tasty and healthy food option. Occasionally I find a Y. filamentosa blossom I  can eat raw but only one. Oxidative stress (a type of imbalance in our cells) can … See if you throat feels dry or bitter. Franky, I would leave them alone. Bear in mind, the roots (as with most desert plants) go halfway to China. Unless and until I get totally mad at her and him for digging my garden s up. All parts of the plant are useful, and many parts are edible. Yucca is also used as a blood cleanser; today, often in the form of Yucca Root Tea. Yucca, two C’s, officially is native to the hot, dry parts of North and Central America and the West Indies.  However Y. filamentosa (fill-luh-men-TOE-suh) can be found as far west as Texas, north to Canada and east to Massachusetts. Hank, Thanx . Not sure about horses. Yes YuCa is eaten more commonly as a food staple (sold as a whole root) whereas YuCCa is mainly used like a herbal medicine (sold cut and sifted). Yucca Root is NOT Edible. I would think not. Cant beat a plant that offers sooo much: Edible, medicinal, fire drill, cordage, soap, and a sewing needle! Amanda, Yucca filamentosa is an evergreen Shrub growing to 1.2 m (4ft) by 0.6 m (2ft in) at a medium rate. Was curious because in caribbean amoung taino and kalinago kukra, rama, mayagnas and miskitu there arevtwo cassavas one is regular other is bitter also used for food but with skin rwmoved to make tapioca flour tortillas etc. Cook for about 5 minutes and keep stirring. Alright, update – I went ahead and fried and boiled the local yucca roots to see if I could extract the saponins out the way you try to do with the tannins of acorns. I have read of tribal people in the southwest USA who baked part of the yucca in ground ovens for long periods of time and then ate it. ( Log Out /  The yucca (YUK-ka) in the wild has several edible parts ABOVE ground. The yucca in my garden is Y. baccata. I would bet that ours is much smaller and has a higher concentration of saponins. With that said, at this very moment I am processing and cooking the root in different ways to experiment with taste and texture and of course if any symptoms arise from consuming. If you don’t get out the whole root, it’ll almost definitely grow back (which is good if you want it to, and not so good if one’s sprouted up in a not-so-good location), so the younger ones are easier to get to, especially if your hands don’t work so well! Also the leaves can be made into extremely strong cordage. Yucca filamentosa leaves, great for cordage. Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is also known as yuca and is an important plant for its starchy roots. You can also peel first. A few months ago, I agreed to take care of a friend's yucca plant for a while. The flower stalks can be boiled and ate when first shooting up. My horses tend to be very picky about what they eat and these would look lovely in the pasture bordering the road. I have researched it and found that, besides having medicinal uses in many countries, it is also eaten as a vegetable and used as a seasoning. One last side-note: if you want to make your beloved and beautiful Yucca Moths happy (our friendly neighbourhood Yucca pollinators), grow some Licorice Mint (Agastache foeniculum). So, what parts of the yucca are edible? I can’t help but wonder how many people saw that sign in the grocery store and thought, “Hey, I have yucca plants growing around my house. tapioca is a more … Flowers, roots, stalks and hearts are all edible. Copyright 2007-2018 – This web page is the property of Green Deane, LLC. Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information. So don’t try it; you won’t like it. Yes you are right when you said they made a mistake and confounded YuCa (Cassava-Manihot) and YuCCa (native american succulent root). Yes the research is correct. Learn how your comment data is processed. Cassava is also used to make a type of chicha aka beer. Yucca is used in manybrecipes calling for potato or in baked goods. 🙂, Argh… I’m a dork and only just saw the “bushmint” part. Oops!). The fruit really don’t taste too good. The seeds can be roasted (375F) until dry, grind roughly, boil as a vegetable until tender. Young short flower stalks long before they blossom are also edible. Viviane, I think I’ll dig up a root and try it.”. Dead flower stalks are great for bean poles. Would I cook the fruit and seeds the same way you recommended for the species you showed? Yuca is another name for cassava which is a potato-like root that is cultivated in tropical regions throughout the world. I mean if it can be processed and actually eaten then in some areas it is a very easy food to acquire. My dogs dig up my yucca roots and chews on them. Native Americans used to put mashed yucca root in a woven bag, which was then dropped into a small pond or stream which had been dammed. I don’t know if it was the extra storage time or the cooking method, but either way, it turned out really nice. It is also a vegetable. However, all cassava cultivars (sweet and bitten) contain varying amounts of cyanide. The plants usually have tough, evergreen leaves that are shaped like swords and grow on tall, fibrous stalks. You can fry, cook or roast it…. ( Log Out /  Yucca plants are masters of water conservation. That’s the point of the article. Though different yucca produce different colored blooms, the flower skin tends to be thick and almost leathery. Yuccas are widely grown as ornamental plants in gardens. 13 Things You’ll Wish You had when Your Smart Phone is Useless. You see something that catches your eyes but have no clue what it is. I was recently at a local grocery store and I saw that they had a sign saying “yucca root” for sale. The yuca (YEW-ka) in the grocery store is a cultivated cassava and has one edible part BELOW ground. Yucca plants (Yucca spp.) yucca or cassava (manihot esculenta) cannot be eaten raw but can be processed with little cooking if done properly. Some are edible most are not. Would like to find more info on this. Please see the response to comment above. Can’t swear to it, Andy, but that sounds like Yuca (with one “c”), not Yucca (“cc”). The roots contain saponins, which is poisonous. In other words, it is soap. Such a page would come in handy. The dead and dry stem is a great spindle for friction sets. For you survivalists, the yucca provides more than food. Most on internet get it confused with the yuca tree, so Im not always sure what to believe. D’oh! ( Log Out /  I’ve never tried this personally so I can’t verify that this is true. Saponin is an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, lathering agent. The cordage from the leaves is the strongest of any natural fiber I have come across. In ideal conditions, yucca can grow to up to 30-feet tall. View photos and uses of the edible/medicinal plant Yucca elata (Soaptree yucca), profiled in the books Medicinal Plants of the American Southwest and Sonoran Desert Food Plants. I came across this site several months ago. Many people drink Yucca Root tea to purify the blood and cleanse the colon. Yucca root contains high levels of saponins, which indeed are poisonous to fish. Once the plant and roots are removed, leave the hole open for 2 to 3 weeks to let the sun dry out and kill any remaining yucca roots. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The have a chemical that burns so most livestock avoid it. So much for “dry”.  Other yucca, who do like it arid can be found across the desert southwest of the United States from Texas to California and parts south. METHOD OF PREPARATION: Six-sided fruits edible raw or cooked, rubbery and bitter, cooking helps some, flower petals raw in salads, sparingly, or fried, may be batter dipped, boiled or roasted. See my post on the two for pictures and differences. It is also found in humid Florida. They eat cassava which I believe I made pretty clear in the article. I live in texas and we have what I believe is commonly referred to as a “red yucca” in our garden. I also came across a bit of info that stated you can grind the root into a pulp and use it as a fish stunner. It looks like the one you picture on your page. 2 very different plants with very similarly spelled names. Cassava Leaves of the cassava plant A cassava tuber Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Clade: Tracheophytes Clade: Angiosperms Clade: Eudicots Clade: Rosids Order: Malpighiales Family: Euphorbiaceae Genus: Manihot Species: M. esculenta Binomial name Manihot esculenta Crantz Synonyms Janipha aipi J.Presl Janipha manihot Kunth Jatropha aipi Göpp. , improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and a sewing needle about 10 minutes drain. Prefer cholla processed and actually eaten then in some areas it is be with! 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