Cassava vs. Yucca: Different Uses of Cassava and Yucca

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a perennial plant in the Euphorbiaceae family. The cassava plant is cultivated for its starchy, edible tuber known as yuca, manioc, or mandioca. Rich in vitamin C, calcium, and potassium, yuca is native to Brazil but grown throughout South America, where it’s eaten as a dominant source of carbohydrates along with rice and maize.

There are two varieties of yuca consumed worldwide: Bitter yuca and sweet yuca. Sweet yuca is the variety you can find in Western grocery stores—usually stocked alongside other root vegetables like sweet potatoes and yams, with the plantains, or in the frozen section—while bitter yuca is mainly processed into cassava flour. Cassava is also used to make tapioca, also known as cassava starch.

You can prepare cassava, commonly known by its root, yuca, in a variety of ways. After you peel the yuca’s tough outer skin, you can:

• Boil: Yuca is most commonly boiled before being mashed or stewed. In the Cuban dish yuca con mojo, boiled yuca is marinated in a sauce of garlic, lime juice, and olive oil.
• Fry: Thick-cut yuca fries are fried in vegetable oil until golden brown and crispy. Additionally, you can make thinly sliced yuca rounds into chips.
• Grate: In the Dominican Republic, grated bitter yuca is used to make casabe, a cracker-like, unleavened flatbread.
• Roast: Roasting yuca over high heat with oil and an assortment of spices, like yuca asado, enhances the sweet undertones and turns the flesh soft and fluffy.
• Simmer: You can use cassava as an alternative to potatoes in soups and stews, where it will also act as a natural thickener.

It’s important to peel yuca’s rough, fibrous outer skin before cooking or consuming it because its flesh contains toxic levels of prussic acid and cannot be eaten raw. To peel yuca, cut the tuber in half crosswise and remove either end. Stand the vegetable on its cut side, and slice away the skin (usually with a chef’s knife, not a vegetable peeler), rotating as you go.

Yucca plant is the common name for some plants within the Yucca genus of drought-tolerant trees, plants, and shrubs, which belong to the Asparagaceae family. Native to Mexico, yucca plants feature rosettes of green leaves and white flowers. The yucca plant depends on the yucca moth, its main pollinator. Yucca flowers need the yucca moth for pollination because they are unable to self-pollinate.

In their natural environment, yucca plants produce flower stalks that grow up to ten feet in height, produce waxy white flowers, and attract yucca moths. Some yucca varieties bear edible fruits, seeds, and flowers, but they are not commonly used in cooking.

Cassava, which is also known as yuca, is not interchangeable with yucca. The plants belong to different plant families: cassava belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family, while yucca belongs to the Asparagaceae. Cassava is cultivated for its root, a staple food in many cultures. Yucca is primarily an ornamental plant. The yucca root is inedible, though its flower petals are a common garnish for salsas and salads in Central America.

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