Con Ye de Yuca - Foodies

With Y of Yucca

The basic principles of holism teach us that endemic foods are distributed in a natural way to ensure humanity's enjoyment of good health. In America, the yucca was an essential part of the menu with which many native communities were nourished, who identified in this tuber an important source of protein. It is believed that its origin is in the Amazon, however, the chronicles of countless explorers recorded its presence in various parts of the American geography from the southwestern United States to Argentina, resulting in a melodious variety of names with which they have baptized the genus manihot of the euphorbiacceae family: Aipi, casava, manioc, sweet potato, manioc, tapioca, suahili, mhogo and omowgo, but ultimately, yucca.

This cylindrical root of woody appearance hides behind its skin the whiteness of an exceptional food that has been a protagonist in the Caribbean diet for thousands of years; sancocho of our country. #CookingCartagena that the boiled contents, pale yellow in color but with a texture that melts on your palate, are respected; when this "rucha" is cooked, but not so much as to be able to grind it and transform it into the fantastic and crunchy carimañola that we fill with that soft, juicy but firm cheese characteristic of the coast, which we are sure will delight you in our award-winning "Literary Menu of García Márquez". #MenudeGabo. If we talk about how it adapts in form and flavor to each region of Colombia, our journey would have to start in the Amazon with that extract of the intensely flavored and spicy yucca brava that the grandmothers of Leticia send to Bogota to prepare one of the classics of our stop at Minimal, beef morrillo in Amazonian tucupi sauce, served with fried yucca, cassava, ants and fresh greens, a declaration of love to the yucca that we eat when we go on a restaurant tour of #ChapineroAlto. Follow the route of its delicious flavors, embarking now on the adventure to the southern ends of the country where its ability to brighten up stews makes it an essential ingredient in the sancocho de mulata paseadora of the Pacific or the turtle soup of La Guajira; in the Valle del Cauca, they are the basis of its most popular snacks, look for it turned into cakes, empanadas, pandebonos or pandeyucas. Finally, meet us in Cartagena where we will taste it, once again, accompanied by an exquisite brunch with fried fish at #BazurtoFoodiesClub.

Ye for yucca, is one of the least frequent letters of the Spanish alphabet but in gastronomy we master it transforming each variety of this tuber into a delicacy, so do not be surprised if we invite you to try it in sweets that preserve the tender taste of childhood as the enyucado that Florentino prepares for us in #SavoringPalenque or the panderitos that Mercedes exhibits in her stand at the Portal de los Dulces when we visit her in our #CartagenaStreetFood. If you want it in its original version, it will always be an invitation to let yourself be tempted by simply a snotty, soft, delicious and pleasurable yucca fresh out of the pot that is just waiting for a partner to be served on the plate. In the Colombian Caribbean gastronomic marriages are a tradition so if one day you want to join the yucca in this holy sacrament we leave you the secret: Let it be with cheese, whey or chicharron!