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Glite Dictionary
chufa

chufa

9.9
A small plant with edible parts like nuts that grow under the ground
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : chufa
  • The chufa plant produces small, edible tubers that are often used in traditional Spanish horchata.

Examples

  • Today, the chufa is grown commercially around Valencia, but it seems likely that it traveled from an ancestral center in Egypt to Spain, where it now provides pleasure to millions.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Penelope Casas states unequivocally in The Foods and Wines of Spain (Knopf, 1982) that this chufa horchata is of Arabic origin.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In another one, the most popular, it includes ground chufa, or tiger nut.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In many recipes, chufa is ground into flour, making it a popular ingredient in gluten-free baking.

  • Farmers specifically cultivate chufa for its nut-like tubers, which are rich in nutrients.

Synonyms

earth almond
vschufa
  • UK
9.5

A small edible root like a tiny nut that people eat or use in food

is the primary name in the description rather than the alternate name
yellow nutgrass
vschufa
9.9

A plant with small edible tubers you can dig up and eat

is the term used in the main description rather than this common name
Cyperus esculentus
vschufa
  • Specialized
9.9

A grass-like plant that makes small sweet edible tubers called tiger nuts

is presented as a European species rather than one native also to Africa
nut sedge
vschufa
8.5

A grass-like plant with small round edible underground tubers that often grows as a weed

is described specifically as a European plant rather than broadly distributed

Surface Forms

chufa singular
chufas plural

Etymology

The word chufa comes from Spanish and earlier from Arabic, where it named a small, edible, nut-like root used to make the sweet drink 'horchata de chufa'. So today chufa still means that little, edible tuber people eat.