A ubiquitous flower in LA is a reminder of homeland for a Salvadoran chef

Growing up in Los Angeles, Karla Tatiana Vasquez says it was always a thrill seeing flor de izote in the kitchen — the delicate, cream-colored blossoms of the giant yucca.

"I would always see a bag, like a Home Depot bag, filled with this flower," she says. "And you could hear the rustling of the bag and my mom getting the flowers out and saying, 'Karla, tenemos flor de izote.' And then my dad would walk in and be like, 'Quién encontró la flor de izote?' Who found it, you know?'"

Flor de izote is the national flower of El Salvador, the country Vasquez's parents fled when she was just a baby. But the flower is more than a national symbol — it's a seasonal delicacy, and when it's in bloom, it's ubiquitous at L.A.'s Salvadoran street market.

The El Salvador Corridor is a dense, 14-block strip of market stalls in central LA.

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Stephanie Noritz

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The giant yucca is native to Mexico and Central America, but it grows widely in Southern California. In August and September, it erupts into bloom and Vasquez remembers her dad pointing out the flowers from the freeway with excitement — it was one of his favorite dishes, after all.

The way her mother cooked the flowers, blanched and sauteed with onion, tomato and scrambled eggs, is a recipe Vasquez included in her 2024 cookbook, The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them.

It was this recipe that brought me to Vasquez in the first place. Because a couple weeks ago, a family parked in front of my house, with a ladder on the roof of their truck, and asked if they could pick the big white flowers atop a 20-foot-tall yucca, in my neighbor's yard — and I was curious to learn more.

"I think that's so common," Vasquez says. "I don't think a lot of folks realize what's growing in their backyard or right in front of their house in the parkway. I love that there's so many Salvadorans mustering up the courage to knock on the door and say, 'Hey, can I take these flowers?'"

Vasquez purchases avocados from a vendor at the street market.

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Stephanie Noritz

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for NPR

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Since the yuccas were in bloom all over the city, we set out on a recent Saturday morning to find some flowers for ourselves. We began our hunt at the El Salvador Corridor, a dense, 14-block strip of market stalls that run along a stretch of Vermont Avenue in central L.A.

As we navigated the narrow sidewalk market, Vasquez pointed out baskets of wriggling purple crabs, or punches, along with bags of pumpkin seed powder — alguashte — which she uses to make a bright green sauce for the crabs. And the ingredient we'd come to find — flor de izote — was everywhere, hanging from the tarp ceilings of vendors' tents, piled high in boxes and peeking out of big plastic bags. The branches cost $15 to $25 a piece, depending on the size, and nearly every vendor has a recipe to share.

Jose Hernandez, who was born in El Salvador and has been living in the U.S. for decades, says his mother taught him how to harvest the blooms and how to cook them. She used to have a restaurant and he suggested a simple preparation, similar to the way Vasquez's mother makes it. Fry up tomato, onion and garlic with the flower petals, he says — being careful not to overcook it — and it's "riquísimo." Jose Zepda, another vendor, suggests a richer preparation. He fries up the petals briefly and then adds Salvadoran sour cream.

The rinsed petals from the flor de izote dry in a bowl in Vasquez's kitchen.

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Stephanie Noritz

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Vasquez buys a couple branches — she'll save the bigger one for her mom — and picks up a few avocados, some spicy-salty cheese and French rolls. Then we're off to her kitchen to cook lunch. When we arrive, she already has a pot of Salvadoran red silk beans with pork ribs on the stove and begins to pick the petals off each flower. The middle parts are slightly bitter, she explains, and besides, she likens the process to a meditation.

"Especially when you have an ingredient you don't see often, it helps you have more time with it, like prolonging the visit of an old friend you haven't seen — like, 'Oh stay for another round of coffee.'"

Vasquez adds egg to the sofrito and cooked flor de izote.

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Stephanie Noritz

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Once she's finished picking the petals, she pours boiling water over them and moves to the stove to fry up some onion and tomato. Soon, she adds the petals — and then in go the scrambled eggs. Just a few more minutes on the stove and the dish — flor de izote con huevos — is ready.

"Buen provecho," she says, as we settle in around our plates on her screened porch. The flower petals have a soft, pleasurable texture and an assertive vegetal flavor — almost like another flower, the artichoke. Vasquez says the very act of eating flowers is part of the magic for her.

Flor de izote con huevos is one of the dishes in Vasquez's 2024 cookbook, "The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them."

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Stephanie Noritz

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for NPR

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"As a kid, I always loved the idea of eating flowers for breakfast," she says. "Because what I knew of El Salvador was that it was this place of war that we had left and that it was dangerous. And in my mind, I kept thinking, 'Well, a place that's dangerous, but they eat flowers for breakfast?' Like, make it make sense."

The flowers and the bustling market where we bought them are also a symbol of something more for Vasquez — an emblem of her roots in El Salvador, a proud reminder of where she comes from.

To Vasquez, the flowers and the bustling market represent her roots in El Salvador.

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Stephanie Noritz

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for NPR

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"I think for somebody who has had a hard time figuring out what is home," she says, "it just makes me very happy that L.A. is a place that feels like my homeland. Like, that is just such a powerful feeling. Me da fortaleza. It gives me strength."

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