Everything You Need To Know About Yuca

Yuca, also known as cassava, manioc, tapioca, and many other names is a root vegetable that originates from South America that is now eaten all over the world. In fact, yuca is so common in our everyday foods, cleaning products, and household items that you may not even realize how much yuca is around you at all times.

If you have ever seen this root in its raw form, you know that it is long, dark golden brown, and looks faintly like a potato or sweet potato. Beyond that, yuca does not look very exciting — but do not fall into that trap. Yuca is full of exciting flavors, textures, and possibilities if you simply open your eyes and your mouth. Yuca has a wonderful texture that is both dense and chewy, making it incredibly enjoyable to eat. 

If this is the first time you are hearing about yuca, then keep reading and you are sure to learn lots about this fantastic starch. In fact, even if you have had yuca many times, this root is out to surprise you with its versatility and scrumptiousness.

Yuca is a staple starch crop that grows underground. Technically the root of a yuca plant, the roots grow from the crown of the plant and branch out into the soil in collections of long tubers. The roots can grow to be up to three feet long but, more commonly, are up to 12 inches in length. This fascinating plant produces fruit, roots, and leaves, but, the only edible part of the plant is the tuber itself. Yuca plants require well-drained soils, which means soils that are fairly sandy and do not hold onto water very well. This makes yuca plants drought tolerant and a great companion plant for small seedlings of cocoa or coffee plants. They can shelter the small seedlings while they are establishing themselves in new areas, especially in those that are quite exposed with little shade cover.

Yuca is technically a perennial plant, meaning that it does not die seasonally, and instead can live year-round. However, it is common to propagate a new yuca plant from a cutting, and then wait nine to eleven months for the roots to become large enough to harvest. In general, the roots are ready to be harvested when they are eight to fifteen inches long. The older the root, the starchier it will be. This may sound like a good thing, but be careful. If a yuca root gets too old, they will become starchy and the middle will be woody and fibrous.

This wonderful starchy vegetable is fantastic fried, steamed, baked, and fermented. The reason behind that is not entirely because of taste. Raw yuca contains a natural type of cyanide called cyanide glucosides that are found in the starch of the roots (via Britannica). In the past, to remove the toxic cyanide, indigenous peoples developed many ways to process the root to ensure that it was not poisonous (via American Indian Health and Diet Project). Many of these techniques, which include pounding, soaking, fermenting, and drying the yuca, are still used today in industrial yuca production.

There are two main types of cassava, a bitter and a sweet variety, and it is from the bitter variety that yuca and tapioca flour are usually made. Bitter yuca also has a much higher cyanide content and therefore requires additional care when being prepared for flour. When you are preparing yuca for yourself, make sure to peel the skin, soak the yuca pieces in water, and cook the yuca thoroughly until it is soft and tender (via Medical News Today). This will ensure that your yuca is cyanide-free and can be enjoyed with peace of mind.

So, we can finally talk about how delicious yuca is. One of the most delicious ways to prepare and eat yuca is by frying it. As we previously mentioned, yuca is very starchy, so having a yuca fry, or yuca frita, is like biting into a starchier french fry.

You can make yuca frita by simply peeling your yuca, cutting it into fry-shaped pieces, and soaking it until your oil is hot. Fry your yuca pieces until they are crispy and slightly brown. If you really want extra luxurious yuca frita, then make sure to twice fry the pieces. This will crisp up the grooves and edges of the yuca, making it absolutely divine to bite into.

If you do not feel like going through all of the efforts of frying your own yuca, you can find yuca at many grocery stores, such as Trader Joe's cassava chips. While the chips are different from a freshly fried yuca frita, they still have the signature yuca crunch and flavor.

Yuca, being one of the world's staple starches, cannot be restricted to only savory applications. As with any crop that can be made into flour, yuca can be made into desserts. Often times this is seen through the use of tapioca in puddings or drinks or with yuca flour in dense, buttery cakes.

Somewhat like butter mochi in texture, a Filipino cassava cake recipe actually uses neither yuca flour nor tapioca to achieve its signature texture and flavor. Rather, this soft cassava cake uses fresh cassava that must be grated before being mixed into a batter and baked. It is then topped with a drizzle of coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk that makes this cake even gooier and irresistible.

If this cake sounds like it would be delicious, you are right. Make sure to give it a try next time you encounter some fresh yuca, and you will not be disappointed.

While tapioca is another name for yuca and cassava, there is a slight difference between the two items. Tapioca flour comes from the pulp of the yuca plant while cassava flour is made from the entire root. More specifically, tapioca comes from the bitter variety of yuca that is believed to have arrived in South East Asian and Taiwan through Japanese occupation in the late-1800s (via Eater). The starch must be extracted from the pulp of the yuca plant, treated to rid it of the natural cyanide, and then dried into a flour form that we can find at all of our local stores. 

This means that everything tapioca, tapioca pearls, tapioca pudding, and tapioca flour are made from the pulp of the yuca plant rather than the whole root. Because only the starch is used, tapioca flour, and its products, tend to be chewier and less tough than things made with cassava flour. When you are baking with tapioca flour versus cassava flour you can even tell the difference. Tapioca flour is finer and feels sort of like corn starch, while cassava flour is not as smooth and silky. 

Another use for tapioca flour is as a replacement for corn starch or potato starch. If you are frying something or making a slurry to thicken a sauce, tapioca flour can be substituted for the same results. 

While the majority of yuca is grown in Africa, yuca actually originates from South America from the area that is now known as Brazil. It comes from a dry basin called the cerrado where it was domesticated and was domesticated an estimated 10,000 years ago (via We Seed Change), and then began its steady takeover of the world. The indigenous peoples of South and Central America were known to enjoy their yuca boiled, in porridge, or shaped into a dense, round cake, according to the American Indian Health and Diet Project. Their knowledge of how to cultivate and process yuca helped establish the massive yuca industry that we have today.

Today, yuca still plays a huge role in Brazilian and South American cuisine. It can be found as a crispy side called farofa, boiled and topped with vinegar and onions, or in a simple crepe called tapioca. However, if you eat this starchy root, it will be sure to satisfy while delivering a mouthful of satisfying chew, crunch, and most importantly, carbs.