The common name of this vine is Mani del Monte, or Mountain Peanut, but so far as I can tell it's not a legume at all. The seeds inside that oddly shaped fruit are edible and quite tasty. I don't even know where to start with family on this one... At least it was also blooming, and hopefully the flower will be of some aid. Help, please!
The fruit smelled nothing like the other Curcubits that are down here.... As you said, this being the tropics, it could be just about anything. I can't find it in any of my books (not even "Useful Plants"), despite just about every family I know in the area having two or three of the vines specifically for the seeds.
No kidding. That's actually why I discounted the Euphorbs at first.... Notwithstanding, at least one of the other Euphorbs is of significant food value: Cassava (Manihot esculenta) and after fairly prolonged searching I can't find another edible one.
True, true. That would make the Plukenetia the only out-of-hand edible Euphorb, then. And, thinking about the flavour of the seeds, I'd have to say that I now understand where the sweet "almondy" flavour is coming from... they do apparently have just a touch of cyanide....
Cnidoscolus chayamansa & Cnidoscolus aconitifolius are also edible. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/68269/ The only processing I've ever done on Manihot is peel the root and boil. Served with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice YUM! Nearly everyone has eaten it as tapioca pudding or as a thickener in processed foods. Regards Chris
Tapioca/manihot/casava/yucca/manioc etc are not all high in cyanide. Through selection, there are varieties that do not have high cyanide content. The starchy tubers are the parts that are eaten. The toxin is produced when a gylcoside is converted to prussic acid by an ezymatic reaction. This reaction speeds starts as soon as the tubers are uprooted, and speeds up when the tubers are cut or expose to air. The toxin is at it's most concentrated in the skin, but the toxin infiltrates into the starchy part. However, prussic acid is readily soluble in water and inactivated off by heat. The bitter varieties of the cassava has a high quantity of the acid. The sweet has lower concentration and in this latter variety it is found mainly in the skin. Itseems that the high cyanide containing varieties are grown in Africa and Brazil - preferred for their almond flavour. When we were growing up in Malayisa, we grew our own cassava's. We just peel the skin off, boil well, and eat it with a sprinkle of sugar. However, one would not make the mistake of being as cavalier when in South America and Africa. It is well known amongst folks we know that we only dig the tubers out if we need to cook them that day - i.e., we never dug them out and store them for future use. The one's sold in Asian Supermarkets are sealed in wax. We buy those occassionally and cook them in exactily the same way - and is still alive to tell the tale. However, I might have second thoughts about cooking them in the microwave vs boiling them in water.
And please note the spelling is YuCa (pronounce YOU-ka) for Tapioca/Manihot and Yucca (pronounce YUK-ka)for the other (Liliales: Agavaceae) genus. HTH Chris
Cnidoscolus is, of course, the only other member of the tribe Manihoteae, to which Yuca also belongs. And I'd like to put in a good word for the edibility Cassava greens, boiled like Spinach. They're a very tasty leafy veggie. As for the roots, I've only ever dug them up on the day I want to eat them; I steer quite clear of them at the fresh markets because I can never be sure how long they've been out of the ground. This said, I peel, soak, and boil or steam my yuca.
