Bolitas de Yuca con Melado

Several weeks ago I bought a yuca from the grocery store. Yuca, also known as cassava, is a starchy root tuber with thick brown skin and white flesh.

Yuca is used in all sorts of ways here: cut into strips and fried (like french fries), sliced thinly and made into chips, and cut into chunks for soups. They are also used in various forms in breads and cakes. I ended up making bolitas de yuca con melado (sweet yuca balls with a type of caramel sauce).

After cubing the yuca, I put it into a pot with water, simmered until it was soft, then mashed it. I rolled the mashed yuca into little balls, fried them, then poured the melado over them. I made the melado by melting panela (unrefined cane sugar) mixed with cinnamon.

The flavor combination was a bit unexpected. The yuca balls themselves were not sweet...they tasted almost like fried mashed potatoes. But the melado was delicious.