Hola Reader
There is something intimidating about cooking. There is the fact that sometimes we don't quite know how to cook an item, or use a tool, or even what the ingredients would taste like. Many of these things come with trial and error and practice.
I like to use these emails to shed light on these pain points so that cooking is not so intimidating and you feel even more inspired to try something new. Even if something new is thousands of years old. If there are any ingredients you would like me to do a deep dive into, please reply back and let me know.
Today, I want to shed some light on one of my favorite root vegetables, Yuca 🌿. Yuca is a long tuber with bark-like skin, usually waxed, and bright white or pale yellow flesh. Yuca also has a hard, fibrous, inedible, string-like core that must be removed before serving. But the flavor of yuca is almost floral and creamy. Compared to a potato, yuca has far more starch and fiber, and is great served warm with an oily dressing.
All of these descriptions of the tuber still do not tell you what yuca is. At least, how to use it, what to avoid, and what it means to us in Puerto Rico. So, let's start there, in Puerto Rico.
Yuca was brought to the island by the Taíno people, an indigenous branch of the Arawak people who lived in South America. The Taíno settled and populated most of the islands of the Caribbean. They cultivated and used yuca in a variety of ways — from drinks and sauces to breads. They even ate the leaves as a vegetable 🌱. And it was because of this deep knowledge of yuca that it became not only one of the main sources of sustenance for the Taíno, but also a lifeline for the Spaniards and the Africans during times of famine after their arrival.
Yuca did not stop there. Through the movement of Spanish and Portuguese traders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, yuca traveled across the Atlantic to West Africa and eventually to Southeast Asia, where it took root and thrived. Today, Thailand is the world's largest exporter of cassava products. And that tapioca in your bubble tea? 🧋 Also yuca. The same root sitting waxed and stacked at your supermarket has been feeding the world for thousands of years — it just goes by different names depending on where you find it.
But yuca is not a cut-and-dry vegetable — actually, neither were potatoes. They, too, had a poisonous backstory we can cover in a later email. 😏
There are two distinct types of yuca: bitter and sweet. The latter is the most commercially available today. Both types contain cyanide — sweet yuca has smaller concentrations located mostly in the skin, easily removed by peeling, while bitter yuca has higher levels distributed throughout the root. Have you ever come across a recipe that tells you to grate the yuca and squeeze out its liquid? 🤔 This is the process developed to remove toxins from the flesh. Nowadays, with well-domesticated varieties, this step might not be strictly necessary — but I will be honest, I still do it just in case. Another reason some recipes call for this step, like in casabe and pasteles, is that we need a dry or drier product: to sear the yuca on a burén for casabe, or to create a masa that will not fall apart when boiling, as in pasteles.
Yuca is an incredible plant. It has remarkable hardiness — it can stay in the ground far longer than other root vegetables. However, the moment it is picked, it begins to degrade. This is likely why it is the only tuber sold with a waxy finish at the supermarket, and the one tuber that does not last long once you bring it home.
There is nothing worse than getting ready to make tostones de yuca and finding odd grey and black tinges in the otherwise bright white or pale yellow flesh 😩. If that has happened to you — Do Not Use It. It is because of this that yuca is one of the few ingredients I buy frozen. Someone already did all the peeling and sorting. All I have to do is cook it. And I have made frozen yuca every which way — boiled with a drizzle of olive oil, tostones, and pasteles. Unlike many other frozen vegetables, yuca holds up beautifully to cooking straight from frozen. ❄️
If there are any ingredients you would like me to do a deep dive into, please reply back and let me know.
Hasta entonces!
P.S. I have an adaptation of German Potato Salad made with Yuca at the website, go check it ou! Yuca Salad with Bacon and Mustard.
