Elizabeth Bailey
Loroco Flower is a vine with edible flowers, widespread in Mexico and Central America. Fernaldia pandurata is an important source of food in El Salvador and Guatemala. The plant’s buds and flowers are used for cooking in a variety of ways, including in pupusas.
What does loroco taste like?
Loroco has a distinct, vegetal and earthy flavor, reminiscent of chard, artichoke, and asparagus mixed with a faint, floral sweetness. The buds also contain nutty, acidic, and woody undertones adding a tangy, pungent aftertaste.
Does loroco taste good?
Loroco buds contain tightly packed white flowers that have an earthy, vegetal flavor. People compare them to asparagus, chards, or artichokes. They also have a floral undertone which blends a unique combination of sweet and tangy taste. Loroco blooms have a succulent, crisp texture that is delicious eaten fresh.
What is loroco similar to?
Loroco is small green unopened flower buds used as an herb for flavoring in Central America. Loroco tastes “green” with overtones of nuts. The closest taste perhaps to compare the “green” part to is chard, or a cross between mild broccoli and squash.
What is loroco English?
Loroco is native to Central America, and was called Quilite, which in the indigenous language means “Edible herb”. It is a perennial plant that produces flowers from May to October in El Salvador, but with irrigation can produce year-round.
What does loroco mean in Spanish?
Fernaldia pandurata (common name: loroco [loˈɾoko]) is a vine with edible flowers, widespread in El Salvador, Guatemala, and other countries in Central America.
What do you use loroco in?
Yes, you can eat loroco buds raw! Much like purslane (also known as verdolagas) — another wild plant that’s foraged or cultivated throughout Mexico and Latin America — loroco is delicious in salads and sprinkled on soups where it wilts slightly in the hot broth.
Is loroco poisonous?
It is worthy to note that loroco root is poisonous and as such should be handled with care.
What does loroco smell like?
Leaves, young stems, and flowers are used for flavoring in salads or any dish where pungency is desired. The flowers candy well. The blossom are honey-scented.
Loroco flower benefits
Loroco is a good source of fiber to stimulate the digestive tract and provides calcium to help strengthen bones and teeth. The flower buds also contain niacin, a vitamin that assists in the body processing food into energy and is a source of other nutrients, including vitamins A and C and iron.
Is loroco poisonous?
The flowers are reported to be high in calcium and niacin. Though this vine is closely related to toxic members of the dogbane family, tests of the flowers for cardiac glycosides are negative. The root is used as a poison.
Can I bring loroco to us?
Loroco is not available fresh in the United States because the United States Department of Agriculture’s Commodity and Biological Risk Analysis team discovered that the plants can bring with them the “Diabrotica adelpha” beetle. Loroco can be bought in jars (brined or pickled in vinegar), or frozen.
