Here are two ways to use black yucca seeds in your not-so-survivalist cooking. First, I gently toasted the seeds in a dry frying pan on the stove. Then I sprinkled some on a salad, seen below. The next day I got a wild hare (hair? ) and ground them up as a coffee substitute. I confess I did add a little real coffee as well. The result was great. Tasted like toasty coffee! Ok, friends and neighbors, please send me more suggestions for cooking with yucca or other native plants and uses for sotol!
Following the “Survivor” theme, if you were left by yourself in the Chihuahuan Desert with only a knife, how would you find food? shelter? water? shade? home?
Send me your lists of the various ways you could use a sotol plant, and I will publish the one with the most uses. All parts of the plant are in play: roots, base, leaves, stalk, flowers, pollen.
Ancient people who lived in this area 4000 years ago or more used this plant as a main resource for food, weaving material, ceremonial material, walking sticks, oh I’m giving it away! Give me your list in the comments section directly below!
Ever see those reality TV shows where someone is set loose somewhere in the world and told to find their way back? I don’t watch them myself, but I want you to be prepared in case this ever happens to you. Let’s pretend you are helicoptered in to an undisclosed location in the Chihuahuan Desert, with no map. Only a knife and your wits. After locating water and shade, you thoughts will turn to finding food.
One of the best things you can eat right off the stalk in early summer is the green colored fruit of the yucca. Just break off the pods and cut them open, you don’t even have to peel them. You can eat both the white and green flesh, which has a surprisingly sweet taste. You can even eat the crunchy black seeds with no ill effects. The seeds are almost tasteless and could be added to many other things for texture. I imagine they would be good toasted also, although I haven’t tried it yet. Let us know if you try it. If you send me a recipe for how you use this fruit along with a picture, I will even feature it on this blog!
Mary S. Black 