Edible Yucca Multiple Ways
The seeds, flower petals, flower stalk and the fruits are all edible. Let's start with the flowers. The Yucca plant flowers in the early spring, producing a large stalk in the center of the plant that rises and is covered with large white flowers once they bloom.
These flowers petals are edible straight off the plant and have a nice flavor. Only the flowers should be eaten raw.
This is not something you will have to force yourself you choke down. The flower petals can also be sauteed in a pan alone or with other items such as onions, sweet pepper and butter. Cook just like you would onions. When they start to brown you can start eating. How long prefer to cook them, just like with onions, is up to the individual.
Another way to cook the flowers is to boil them. This can be done alone or as a supplement to other ingredients of a stew.
The stalk that the flowers are on as mentioned can be quite large. It is commonly as big as your forearm and easily two feet long on mature plants.
To eat this stalk just roast it for about 10 minutes each side by placing directly on top of a bed of coals that have lost their flame, but are still very hot. When ready, some of the outside portion touching the coal will be charred. Cut this away and then the rest is ready to eat.
The sap of the yucca plant is toxic and for that reason many people recommend always cooking any part of the plant before eating. To each his own.
There is also another plant that is named red yucca that is toxic and should never be eaten. It has red flowers is smallish compared to most yucca plants and thin leaves. Despite its name it is not a yucca.
However, it is recommended to eat yucca only after cooking because some parts of the plant, especially the sap, are mildly toxic to humans. Moreover, red yucca should not be consumed because it is not edible and considered poisonous.
The stems, leaf bases, flowers, emerging stalks and fruits of most types of yucca are edible after cooking as a precaution.
If after eating you get an upset stomach, nasea and vomiting then you could be alergic and hence forth should restrict you uptake of yucca to the flowers and the fruits.
The fruit of the Yucca plant is edible, but only after cooking. The fruit is normally roasted. Roast at high temperature for about 25 minutes. When the fruits have cooled some but are still warm pull them apart by pushing into the bottom of the fruit with your thumb while peeling back the three side sections. Eat around the hard seeds. Very sweet!
The seeds can be saved, dried and ground into a flour.
If you do not live in the Southwest you can still grow them anywhere that isn't colder than Zone 6. Just plant in a well-drained spot that receives lots of sunlight.
