Yucca Blossoms

They Taste as Good as They Look

Words and Photos by Ellen Zachos

New Mexicans are lucky for many reasons, not the least of which is that our state flower is both beautiful and very tasty. In 1927, when the legislature made the yucca our state flower, they didn’t specify a species, so all of the plants in the genus Yucca are ours to celebrate. The USDA currently lists eleven species as native to various parts of New Mexico, with some having multiple varieties. 

In northern New Mexico, banana yucca (Yucca baccata) and narrowleaf yucca (Y. glauca) are the two most common species. Both grow to be two to three feet tall, with sharply pointed evergreen leaves forming a rosette. Banana yucca leaves are approximately two inches wide, while those of narrowleaf yucca are less than an inch wide. Both produce a central stalk covered with large, graceful white flowers followed by green fruit.

Soaptree yucca (Y. elata) is most common in the southern part of the state, although it’s native as far north as Bernalillo County. It’s New Mexico’s largest yucca, and may grow to be more than twenty feet tall, with a treelike growth habit and several branches. Its common name points to its saponin-rich roots and crown, which were traditionally used as soap (and can be found in some commercial soaps and shampoos, including at the Diné-owned Nizhoni Soaps). 

Yucca leaves are highly fibrous, and have long been integral to the textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Southwest. Archaeological evidence shows yucca cordage has been used for centuries to make belts, ladders, sandals, fishnets, and baskets. Traditional basket makers still use narrowleaf yucca today. To make cordage, the leaves are soaked, then pounded to extract the fibers, which are twisted into string or rope. 

Yuccas also have several edible parts. The immature flower stalk can be cooked and eaten, but you’ll sacrifice the blooms and fruit. Yucca fruit may be dry or fleshy at maturity, depending on the species. The fruit of banana yucca is fleshy and delicious. It makes an excellent pie filling or a naturally sweet side dish, but you’ll have to deal with the yucca moth larvae if they haven’t already left the fruit to pupate underground. If that thought doesn’t make you too queasy to continue, store the ripe fruit in the freezer for a few days. You’ll find the frozen larvae at the bottom of the freezer bag. Feed them to your chickens.

NOTE ON Yucca Moths

Almost all yuccas have mutualistic relationships with moths. Flowers open at night, when the moths are active. As the moths pollinate the flowers, they also lay their eggs within the bloom. Both organisms benefit from the relationship: the plants are pollinated and the larvae have a guaranteed food source as they develop. Unfortunately for human foragers, this makes it difficult to find fruit that doesn’t come with a generous side order of protein . . . i.e., yucca moth larvae.