CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF “CHUFA,” THE TUBERS 
OF CYPERUS ESCULENTUS LINNt 1 
By Frederick B. Power, Chemist in Charge, and Victor K. Chesnut, Assistant 
Chemist, Phytochemical Laboratory , Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department 
of Agriculture 
HISTORICAL 
Cyper us esculentus Linne, belonging to the family of Cyperaecae, is a 
native of southern Europe and North and South Africa. It is said to 
have been cultivated from the earliest times in Italy and North Africa 
on account of its edible tubers, which are commonly known under the 
Spanish name of chufa , but also as “earth almond” and “rush nut,” and 
in French as souchet comestible or amande de terre. 
According to a notice in the American Agriculturist (i), 2 the chufa was 
originally introduced into this country many decades ago as a food for 
swine, although it never fairly established itself as such, and, notwith¬ 
standing the fact that interest in the plant has from time to time been 
revived, it does not seem to be more generally cultivated than it was 
many years ago. The yield of chufa is said to be about 200 bushels to 
the acre, although some reports have indicated it to be very much larger. 
It was also noted in the above-mentioned publication that in some 
countries the tubers, which have a flavor somewhat like that of almonds, 
are expressed for their oil, of which they yield about 16 per cent. In 
Italy and Egypt, in fact, the fatty oil appears to have been used for the 
same purposes as olive oil, both as a food and lor the manufacture of soap. 
In addition to the use of Cyperus tubers in the south of Europe as an 
article of food, it is stated that when roasted and ground they may serve 
as a substitute for coffee and cocoa (5). Such a preparation was known 
in Germany many years ago as mandelkaffee (“ almond coffee”), although 
many other coffee substitutes were subsequently sold under this name (7). 
We have ascertained that chufa contains no trace of caffeine, the presence 
of which was indeed not at all probable. 
Some interesting information relating to the use of chufa in Spain was 
kindly brought to our notice by Dr. David Fairchild, of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. This is con-* 
tained in an illustrated article entitled “ Horchata de Chufas,” which was 
published in the magazine Blanco y Negro at Madrid in 1901. In this 
article ( 2 ) it is stated that the summer beverage known as horchata de 
chufa , 3 of which large quantities are consumed, constitutes an industry 
of such importance that thousands of persons gain their living thereby 
in those regions where the material for its manufacture is cultivated and 
collected, and that a large number of establishments of all classes and 
grades are devoted to its exploitation. Besides the caf£s and the chuferia 
1 Accepted for publication Aug. n, 1923. 
* Reference is made by number (italic) to “ Literature cited,” p. 75. 
3 The Spanish word horchata means literally an emulsion, and the beverage has been described as a kind 
of orgeat produced from chufa or Cyperus tubers. The term orgeat, derived from the French word for 
barley, orge , was originally given to a drink made from barley, but has since been applied to a beverage 
made from almonds, orange-flower water, and sugar. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
agt 
(69) 
Vol. XXVI, No. 1 
Oct. 13, 1923 
Key No. E-24 
