Written by Rickdatech

Chufa or Yellow Nutsedge was one of the first cultivated food crops. It has been found in the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs and cultivation dates back 4000 years. It is still cultivated in some countries for food. In the US it is considered an  invasive weed. It was cultivated for a short time during the 1940s in the SouthEast US as food for swine. It has a sweet nutty taste reminiscent of almonds. It is used in spain to make the drink horchuata.

My father grew Chufas to feed the hogs when he was a boy in the 1940's.  He called them chewfers.  They would grow them in the field and when they were ready, they turned the hogs loose in the field to root them up.  It sounds like he was growning the wild variety since they only got as big as small peanuts.  He said they were tough and chewy and tasted like almonds.  They only grew them a few years and changed over to peanuts on account you couldn't hoe em.

Today Chufa is cultivated in the US primarily as wild turkey attractant. The turkeys really love the stuff. Deer will also eat it. But mainly Yellow Nutsedge is considered a weed of cultivation. It is spread by farm equipment, is persistent and has reduced yields in heavy infestations. A lot of money and effort is spent in eradication of this invasive weed.

As far as I can tell, no one is seriously consdering cultivating this weed for it's oil. Still, it is an interesting possibility.

Dietary Analysis:

23.56 % Fats (oils)
21.23 % Sugars
24.13 % Dietary Fiber
26.54 % Starch 
4.15 % Proteins

Chufa oil contains about 23% oil.

saturated   20%
polyunsaturated   12%
monounsaturated   67%

Fatty Acid Composition of Spanish Chufa (major components)

palmitic acid    15.5%   C16:0
stearic Acid     5.40%   C18:0
Oleic Acid      68.83%   C18:1
Linoleic Acid   12.70%   C18:2

Related Links

Tigernuts.com - Tigernut Oil Fact Sheet

Yellow nut-sedge (Cyperus esculentus L.) tuber oil as a fuel
He Yuan Zhang, Milford A. Hanna, , Yusuf Ali and Lu Nan

Nutritive value of a mixture of tigernut tubers (Cyperus esculentus L.) and baobab seeds (Adansonia digitata L.) - Emmanuel O. Addy, Edward Eteshola

Waterfowl Management Handbook 13.4.18. Chufa Biology and Management - US DoI

Cyprus Knee Chufa - Growing Chufa

San Diego State University - Yellow Nutsedge

Root Crops - Chufa (Cyperus esculentus) - Daisy E Kay

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