All plants /Cactus /Sotol
Sotol
Dasylirion texanum, asparagus family. Common in West Texas.
At a glance
- What
- The starchy heart, slow-roasted
- How
- Pit-roasted, the traditional way
- When
- Year-round
- Where
- West Texas hills and Big Bend country
- Value
- Starch, sugars
Caution: Only the cooked heart is food, and preparing it is a serious pit-roasting project, not a trail snack. The leaves are saw-toothed. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
A rosette of slender saw-edged leaves sending up a tall flower stalk, also called desert spoon. A signature plant of the Trans-Pecos.
Uses
Indigenous peoples pit-roasted the hearts for days into a sweet food, and the same plant is distilled into the spirit sotol.
Photo: Rebou at German Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.