Many home cooks have mistaken yuca flour for tapioca starch since they are relatively similar in appearance and usages. Yet, these two are not identical. Check out the critical differences between yuca vs tapioca in our article so that you can purchase the correct type of flour for your flavorful dishes.
Quick Facts
Yuca flour:
- Production Process: Made from the entire roots
- Nutrition: Contains a good deal of fiber, protein, carbs, and vitamins
- Usage: Used for structured bread and pastries
Tapioca starch:
- Production Process: Starch extracted from yuca root
- Nutrition: Contains a minor amount of fiber and other nutrients
- Usage: Used for bread that does not need rising
What Is Yuca?
Though yuca can sound unfamiliar to several people, it is the alternative name for cassava or manioc. While this starchy tuber is a native plant of South America, it also can be found in Asian and African countries. With potato, yam, and taro, yuca has served as an indispensable carbohydrate resource for many people worldwide.
Besides frying, boiling, or mashing recipes, you may also utilize the powder form of this plant to bake beautiful bread and pastries since a lot of manufacturers have used it to produce yuca flour, also called cassava flour.
What Is Tapioca?
When people extract only the starch from yuca root, they have a final product called tapioca.
As pure starch, it does not present diners with much nutritional value. Moreover, like corn starch, tapioca does not have any flavor. Yet, it is pretty crucial in the culinary world.
You can combine it with other flour to make gluten-free flatbreads or put it in soups, sauces, and gravies as a thickening agent. Besides, if you want to recreate bubble tea at home, you will need this starch to make boba pearls.
Yuca Flour vs Tapioca Starch: Key Differences
As both are related to yuca root, many people think that tapioca and yuca flour are interchangeable. However, they differ in several aspects, including the production process, nutrition, and usages.
Production Process
After harvesting all the cassava from the farm, manufacturers dry the roots well before grinding them into powder. This process eventually generates yuca flour, which you can take advantage of in many recipes.
On the contrary to the above simple production process, it takes considerable effort to extract tapioca starch from the root. First, the makers wash these parts of yuca well, finely grate, then put them into a big container. Next, they produce starchy water by adding some water to the ground root.
After staining the starchy water one or two times, they leave it in the container for a while. When the starch finally settles at the bottom, and the water floats on top, manufacturers pour all the water out. The white residue is the starch. Dry the starch until it turns into powder form. Then, they can start selling this tapioca flour in the market.
Nutrition
Since it is a root vegetable, yuca does not have any gluten. As a result, both yuca flour and tapioca starch are gluten-free. Nevertheless, they offer diners distinct nutritional values.
As yuca flour is made from the entire root, it contains more dietary fiber than its corresponding flour, tapioca starch. Besides, it carries a considerable amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals.
On the other hand, tapioca starch has lost a lot of nutritional value due to its complicated production process. Hence, it only offers you a tiny amount of fiber, protein, and fat while not having as significant a quantity of other nutrients as yuca flour does.
Usage
Due to its high contents of fiber, cassava flour is suitable for baked goods that need structure, for example, bread and pastries. In addition, its gluten-free characteristic makes this flour a healthier version of wheat flour. As a result, people have utilized yuca flour to bake gluten-free muffins, cookies, or brownies. Some even use it to make pasta dough.
Meanwhile, tapioca starch is mainly used as thickening agents or ingredients to make pudding or flatbread, which does not need rising.
Is Yuca Better Than Potatoes?
Compared to potatoes, yuca contains more protein and carbs, providing diners with more calories. Thus, it is more nutritional and suitable for athletes and active individuals to consume. Besides, experts have shared that its glycemic index (GI) is much lower than the potatoes’ one, making it an ideal food for people with diabetes.
Are Yuca Flour and Tapioca Starch Interchangeable?
You can replace tapioca starch with yuca flour when thickening soup and sauce or baking flatbread.
Yet, it is warned against using only the starch to substitute the flour while baking bread or pastries. In these cases, you have to combine tapioca starch with at least one other flour to provide bread with stable and sound structures.